


Oneshots I write when I’m Bored

by Perth (Ikana_Trash)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 2P America (Hetalia), 2P Canada (Hetalia), 2P England (Hetalia), 2P France (Hetalia), 2P Hetalia, Angst, Australia gets fucking bit by a beaver cuz he’s a dumbass, Blood, Brotherly Bonding, Drunken Shenanigans, FACE Family, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Family Reunions, Finland is Baby, Fluff, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, Historical Hetalia, Human & Country Names Used (Hetalia), Implied Relationships, M/M, Mild Gore, Most of the Oneshots involve Canada, Multi, Now with a 2P oneshot!, Now with a Wendigo Canada AU!!, One Shot Collection, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, So it’s not technically a Reunion, Wendigo Canada (Hetalia), but he’s our Dumbass, except they’re meeting for the first time, sorry - Freeform, use of headcanons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25009237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikana_Trash/pseuds/Perth
Summary: Just as the title says, these are Oneshots I write when I’m bored!Feel free to request anything, I’m always open to ideas!These are all originally posted to FanFiction.Net, but I’m deciding to post them here, so here they are!
Relationships: Australia & Canada (Hetalia), Canada/Netherlands (Hetalia), Canada/Prussia (Hetalia), England/France (Hetalia), Finland/Sweden (Hetalia)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 27





	1. Cursed to Burn(Gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Canada has an extensive history with Forest fire and Arson.

Canada hadn't ever felt pain like this. Sure, it was well over two-hundred years since France had found him and named him New France, and it had been roughly fifty years since he was placed into England's care, and yes, he'd felt terrible pain he never wished to feel, but with his damned brother, America, and his people, invading his land, trying to make it theirs, claiming that it was 'for the better good', the pain was becoming beyond any he'd known before. America had justified himself in saying that it was what 'everyone wanted' and Canada tried to convince his brother to not invade him, he tried to tell him not to, but of course, America didn't listen. That was one thing his brother wasn't very good at. Listening.

* * *

He wasn't sure what exactly was happening, but based on the searing pain he felt in his chest, he figured it was safe to say his heart, otherwise known as his Capital, York, was being burnt. He had taken his shirt off to prevent any damage done to his clothes as his Flesh burnt and he could do nothing about it. He tried splashing himself with water, only for the pain to continue as powerful as before. He attempted placing towels on his chest to maybe try and smother the fire burning him from inside out, but alas, It also did nothing to help the hot pain he was feeling. The scorching Agony and constant Irritation almost made him collapse Initially, but after a few hours of burning, he'd gotten used to the fire burning in him. It was unbearably painful, and he had struggled when he tried and stop the pain, only for his all of methods to fail. He had to stumble to his bed in his small shack just outside of Cornwall before he tried his best to fall asleep, only for the continued burning to keep him awake. He wished he had initially fainted from the pain now because that way he wouldn't have to deal with the strong heat and smell of burning flesh that was now lingering in his home. As he lay on his bed, he tried to slow down his breathing. _In... out...in... out..._ he failed quickly as the pain picked up, presumably as another building or two was lit, and his breaths grew more and more laboured, his eyes began growing heavy and his limbs started to feel distant and limp. He panted heavily as the pain grew hotter and hotter, and he began to lose control of his body as everything began to fade to black and he started to pass out. The pain picked up once again in a sudden burst of flames in his chest and his last thoughts were fixated on revenge as he slipped put of consciousness.

Gods, he was going to get back at America. He would get him good, and He would make him feel the pain he was feeling.

* * *

It was 1814 now, a year after Canada's capital was burnt, a year after his heart was burnt, and a year after he felt immeasurable, scorching pain course through his chest.

It was finally time to repay America for what he and his people had done to him. He marched alongside Major-General Robert Ross and helped him light the fires in Washington. Of course, the Major-General had given him the honours of setting the Presidential Mansion ablaze, and as he did it, he thought back to the pain he felt as York was Burnt, and it comforted him to a degree to know that America was feeling the same thing right now. He smiled, and tossed the lit torches into the large, wooden building and watched as the fire grew larger, and larger, and the flames engulfed the Mansion. He could hear screams and shouts from both sides of the battle, but the dominant voices were those of his own men, ordering others to set the various buildings ablaze. The crackling of the fires grew louder and Louder as the flames grew brighter and larger. Canada could feel the harsh heat on his face, but he simply grinned at the heat this time, and looked into the flames. Knowing what America was going through, his grin widened.

Today was a good day. He got his sweet revenge.

* * *

Multiple Decades later, in early April of 1849, Canada suffered yet again from another big fire. It was later dubbed the Great fire of Toronto, being named after the city the fire ravaged. The pain was much less then when York had been burnt by America's people, but Toronto was one of his bigger cities. The city was quickly reduced to ash and there was hardly a city that could be recognized. It was all just burnt rubble and empty streets. He walked the streets, helping those left behind or stuck in the city evacuate, a slight scowl on his face at the thought of another fire possibly happening.

* * *

Only a few days after the Great fire of Toronto, He suffered yet again from another fire. It hurt him as the previous two fires did even if it was less then York. He couldn't though it was much less then York. He was only bedridden for a few hours, though the pain from the burning of his Parliament building lingered. God damn protesters, purposely targeting the parliament building. There were people holding a meeting when the protesters had lit the building on fire, and they had been quickly evacuated to safety, but the worse part about this particular attack had been the fact he'd woken up to a burning sensation and he had to once again smell burning flesh in his own home.

* * *

A couple more decades passed and Canada had no other major Fires. He was beginning to think he was cursed with how much fires occurred on his land, and felt relieved when the 20th century rolled around, hoping that with a new century, the fires would stop. He, of course, was wrong to hope it would stop, because only a few years into the 20th century, in 1904, there was yet another Great fire of Toronto. the fire had taken down his city of Toronto to the ground once again, and left Thousands out of work, most working buildings having been reduced to rubble after the fire was put out by the Firefighters. It too was quite painful for Canada, but still not the worse he'd experienced.

He doubted anything could top York's burning since it was his Capital at the time. According to other Nations that he'd since met, a nation's pain that is connected to the country itself was always amplified if the land being attacked or damaged was the heart, or capital, of said nation. Canada more then believed them when they said that. He'd experienced a Capital being burnt and by the gods, it hurt so much. Just thinking about that day, he began to feel the burn scar start to heat up on his chest as the pain came back as a ghost. He quickly pushed the memories away, not wanting to feel the phantom pain of that day.

* * *

Just over a decade later, in 1916, He felt burning in his heart for the first time in many years. His capital was being burnt yet again. The moment he felt the heat rising in his heart area, he ran outside in hopes the cold, winter air would help him cool off. He should've known it would do nothing to help since he himself wasn't even technically on fire. The pain was on the inside, burning him from the inside out and seeping through into his flesh and damaging his chest even more then it already was with yet another Fire at his Capital. It persisted the whole night, and though the pain was still less then what he felt at York since the fire was smaller, it came a close second. He later learned that his Parliament building had been lit aflame that night and it continued to burn for the majority of time that the moon was in the sky. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that he was Cursed to burn.

* * *

A few months after his Parliament building was burnt in February, he felt yet another large fire grow in him. It started off small, and he at first dismissed it. It was July, one of his hotter months, and the settlers were known to set forest fires to clear out large patches of forests. Then The pain grew rapidly and soon he could smell burning flesh yet again, and he knew something was obviously wrong. Unfortunately, he was unable to find out what had happened until he recovered the next day and got the news. He skimmed the newspaper, desperate to find anything about a major fire, when he spotted it. There was a massive fire in Matheson. It was the result of settlers setting a fire to clear out trees and losing control of the flames. It killed multiple and a large majority of Forest was lost. Canada cursed under his breath as he read more details about the fire. People could be so stupid and careless sometimes, and he seemed to be the one who always had to pay for their recklessness. He shook the negative thoughts from his head. They may not be the brightest or most coordinated or the most intelligent, but they were still his people. They were Him.

* * *

Then the Chinchaga fire happened. No one knew it at the time, they had no way to possibly know, but the Chinchaga fire would later be known as The largest fire in North America history. It was a massive wildfire stretching across his two Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The fire began in June of 1950, and it had started small, as all fires did. It, however, did not stay that way. Not in slightest. The pain was beyond what he felt when York was burnt. He felt his chest and parts of his arms burn for months and months. He doubted it would result in his death, after all it was just a fire, it wasn't like it was going to dissolve his country, but the pain, oh, the pain, it was on par with not only when York was burnt, but it kept up with how he'd been tortured during the World Wars on the rare occasion he was captured. After two months, the fire was still raging on, and he had trouble moving his arms. Every time he moved his arms he felt excruciating heat pulse through him, as if the constant blaze in him wasn't enough. It was mostly his left arm that burnt, which he supposed was more convenient since he wrote with his right hand, but it was still unbearable. Another month passed and the fire was still burning. That was when the sky went dark with smoke. September was when the fire in the West got to such a point and had burned so much that the smoke made its way to the East. It became hard to see, even during the day, as the Sun was blocked out by thick, perpetual smoke. The fire eventually died down in October and the continuous pain subsided, finally allowing Canada to get a good nights sleep.

* * *

He'd been doing pretty well with fires recently. Laws on fire had been upped and since reinforced, and yet British Columbia burned in the hot summers. It was the fact about British Columbia that made him initially dismiss the growing burning pain in his Left arm and left side of his chest. He'd assumed it was British Columbia and the common wildfires that usually raged on around this time... Then he remembered the date. It was May. It wasn't nearly hot enough for British Columbia to begin catching fire yet. He immediately turned on the news the second the burning grew exponentially and he could begin to smell his own burnt flesh, a scent that he had regrettably grown used to over the years.

Fort McMurray in Alberta had caught fire, and firefighters could hardly do anything to stop it from getting bigger. Three days after the fire started, Everyone in the city of Fort McMurray and surrounding areas were ordered by law to evacuate. Thousands of people had to leave their homes as the fire slowly made its way into towns and through the sparse forests and prairies of Alberta, burning down the buildings and natural wildlife, leaving crisp, burnt ground and rubble in its wake. The day after People were ordered to evacuate, it was declared an official Provincial State of Emergency. The fire was massive, and while they were incredibly lucky to have no deaths to come out of the Fire, it still hurt a lot. (Well, Canada would be lying if he said no one had died because of the fire. During the evacuation there had been a car crash which resulted in the death of two people, but they didn't die in the fire so it had been labeled as indirectly related to the fire.) The damage had been huge, and the fire persisted for over a year, it having started in early May of 2016 and only dying down in late August of 2017. Late August had been some of Canada's most peaceful sleeps in over a year. Finally not having the pain of a fire tormenting him, he slept easily and slipped into a surprisingly pleasant and long sleep.

_He really was Cursed to Burn, wasn't he?_


	2. Drunken Hockey Night(Gen/Prucan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prussia, Spain and France go out drinking on the last night of a world meeting. Prussia spots an oddly familiar Blond man sitting next to him at the bar.  
> Can be read as PruCan, but was intended to be Gen.

The meeting had just been let out, with America giving his farewells as the other countries started to leave. France was quick to meet up with Spain, and soon the two good friends found Prussia waiting outside the building for them. France ran up to Prussia and held up his hand, high-fiving the Prussian,

" _Salut,_ Gilbert!" Prussia smiled and turned to Spain who was close behind. He raised his hand again to High-five the Spainard,

 _"Kaīls, Franz! Kaīls, Toni!"_ He smiled,

 _"¡Hola, Gilberto!"_ Spain greeted,

"have you picked out a bar we can go to?" France asked. It was Tradition for them to go out drinking on the last meeting day during world meetings, and they always alternated who picked the bar they were to drink at. This time, It was Prussia's turn to pick the bar, so France and Spain looked eagerly to Prussia, awaiting the answer,

" _Jā,_ I chose zis one place called Doberman and Bear bar and grill... Zey supposedly have pretty decent food If ve get hungry vhile drinking," France nodded,

"Zounds good, _mon partenaire potable!_ Let's get going now!" Spain nodded in agreement,

" _Sí,_ I cant wait to get some drinks in me," he Commented, and they were on their way.  
  


When they arrived there were multiple people seated at the bar, with even more people seated at the tables. Nearly everyone had their eyes trained on the TVs at the front, which appeared to be playing a Hockey game. Despite so many seats being taken, The trio were able to find three empty seats next to a tall, blond man who had just started a glass of Beer in front of him. He, just as everyone else, was invested in the hockey game going on, and every once in a while he would shout at the TV along with the crowd. Prussia, Spain and France took their seats next to the man and quickly ordered their drinks from the bar tender. Prussia ordered some German beer for himself and when the waitress asked what kind, he simply said whichever, with the excuse that if it was German, it was good beer so it didn't matter. France ordered himself Wine and Spain asked for some Sangria, which the bar tender made up quickly.

The night went on and the crowd in the bar got louder and louder as the Hockey game progressed. Most prominent in the yelling though, was the blond man next to the three good friends. His long, almost shoulder length, wavy blond hair obscured most of his face from the side, but Prussia, who was seated directly next to the man, was able to see bright, violet eyes and large, circular glasses. The man Reminded him of someone he knew, but he wasn't quite sure who it was he was remembering. At one point, a member of the blue team, that everyone seemed to be cheering for, had violently rammed into an opponent wearing a white jersey so he could get the puck, which resulted in nearly the whole Pub erupting in cheers as that same blue member scored soon after. The white team member who had been rammed into was quickly replaced as the caster said that it was possible a bone had been broken. Prussia inwardly flinched at that comment and looked to the blond man next to him, who mumbled something under his breath as the caster spoke and took another big swig from his beer. Prussia turned to look to Spain who was next to him,

 _"Sie sind so gewalttätig!"_ He exclaimed. Spain raised an eyebrow,

 _"¿Que?"_ Spain asked, not understanding the German that Prussia was saying,

"I said, Zey're so Violent!" Prussia repeated in English for Spain, who simply nodded,

" _Sí,_ they are very Violent," He agreed, then took another sip of his drink, turning back to the Game. Prussia took another sip of his beer and looked back up to the game just in time to see two players on opposing teams get into a fist fight. He turned to look at the blond man to his other side to see that he was supposedly encouraging the violence. It was Supposedly encouraging the violence since Prussia was unable to understand him for the man was shouting in French. He looked to France, who was eyeing the man next to Prussia,

" 'Is accent is strange. It iz definitely a... uh, Proper Accent, I can understand 'im pretty clearly, but zat Accent... I can't quite place a finger on it," France spoke up when their eyes met. Prussia looked to the man again, only for the man to be looking back at him,

 _"aimez-vous le jeu?"_ He asked, taking yer another drink from his glass of beer. Prussia looked to France expectingly, hoping that France had heard and was able to translate for him. Much to his dismay, France had turn away to flirt with a young lady sitting next to him. Prussia let out a sigh and looked back to the blond, _"aimez-vous le jeu?"_ The man repeated. Not knowing what to say, Prussia recalled how France had told him how to say that he didn't speak French in French in the case he encountered someone speaking French to him. Prussia cleared his throat,

 _"J-Je ne parle p-pas français,"_ the man looked to him for a moment and shook his head, and turned back to the TV taking another drink from his beer,

 _"Désolé,"_ Prussia nodded, feeling slightly bad that he couldn't understand the man.

By the time the game was getting close to ending, the entire pub was exploding in yells of anger and cheers of encouragement that the players on the ice would never know. The leader of the yelling, however, was the now Drunk man sitting next to Prussia. Since they spoke, the man has tucked his hair behind his ears and did his best to tie it up in a loose ponytail. Every time the man yelled the rest of the pub would do the same, and every time the people of the pub would yell, he would join in.

By the time Prussia was almost done his fifth drink, he too was drunk and ready to leave, however he insisted to the others that they stay to watch the ending of the game. The Blue team was far ahead by almost twenty points, but Prussia was curious how the crowd would react when the game ended and they were Announced as having won. When the timer ran out, the celebration wasn't as big as he expected. Many people cheered and got up from their seats, but not to celebrate or jump up and down. People got out of their seats to drunkingly hug and shake hands with strangers as they muttered congratulations, which Prussia found oddly civilized for a pub full of drunk men and women. He was about to get up from his seat, with Spain having just paid for their drinks, when the blond who was sitting next to him tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around to see the blond smiling and holding out his hand, presumably for a handshake,

 _"N-Nous-Nous savionsssss que les Leafs gagneraient, c'est pooouurrquoi la-la célébration n'est pas très grande. ils avaient trop d-d'avance,"_ the man slightly slurred as Gilbert shook his hand and returned the man's smile. Prussia knew he'd seen this man before, but where, he couldn't tell,

" _¡GILBERTO!_ Weee-are w-waaaiiting for yooouuu!" He heard Spain call for him from across the Pub. Prussia turned around and waved to the stranger, then ran after Spain where a taxi was awaiting them.

* * *

Luckily for Prussia, being a nation meant hangovers had much less of an impact on him, so when he woke in the morning, the most he had was a bit of grogginess.

Quickly packing his bag since he'd been too drunk to do it the night before, Prussia thought back to the previous night, and remembered that blond man sitting next to him. He still couldn't think of where he had seen the young man before, but something about him was just so familiar. He shook the thoughts from his head and called a Taxi to the airport as he finished packing and got in the elevator to go down to the Lobby were he promptly signed out of the hotel and sat outside as he awaited the Taxi to arrive,

 _"Prusse?"_ Prussia nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice behind him and he quickly turned around, expecting to be face to face with France, only to see the man from last night, "Prussia?" The man asked once again, this time in English. Prussia was quick to jump to his feet and get close to the tall, blond haired man, sticking an accusatory finger at his chest,

"How do you know about the Awesome me?!" He asked, trying his best to keep quiet. The man simply sighed, not affected by Prussia's threatening tone,

"Prussia, it's me, Matthew... Y'know, Canada? The country you're currently in?" Then it all came back to him. That was how he knew the man at the bar, it had been Canada! Wait, the Quiet Canada has been the one at the bar? Prussia drew back and relaxed when he got his clarification from Canada which earned yet another Sigh from the younger nation, "Before you ask, _oui,_ that was me you saw at the bar," Well, if looks weren't proof enough, the Nation had just admitted to being the man at the pub, so who was Prussia to deny that it really had been Canada the night before?

" _Absurditāti,_ zat couldn't've been y-"

" _Oui,_ it was me. I wouldn't know about it if it wasn't me, eh?" Damn, Canada had a point there. Prussia huffed, and looked to Canada,

" _Spārti Labbai,_ zat vas you... but I have a hard time believing zat," Canada shrugged,

"Be glad that the Leafs didn't loose the game, Cuz I tend to get violent when I'm Angry and Drunk," Canada gave a subtle Wink and began walking off, leaving Prussia to rethink just who Canada was.

* * *

**Translations:**

_**French** Salut- Casual/ Informal Hello_

_**Old Prussian** Kaīls- Hello_

_**Spanish** Hola- Hello_

_**Old Prussian** Jā- Yes_

_**French** _ _mon partenaire potable- my drinking buddy_

_**Spanish** Sí- Yes_

_**German** Sie sind so gewalttätig- They are so Violent_

_**Spanish** Que- What_

_**French** aimez-vous le jeu- do you like the game_

_**French** Nous _ _savions que les Leafs gagneraient, c'est pourquoi la célébration n'est pas très grande. ils avaient trop d'avance_ _\- We knew the Leafs would win, which is why the celebration is not very big. They were too far ahead_

_**French** Prusse- Prussia_

_**French** Oui- Yes_

_**Old Prussian** Absurditāti- Nonesense_

_**Old Prussian** Spārti Labbai- Very well_


	3. Vinland, Vikings and Celebrations(sufin)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sweden landed in Vinland in the 1000s, he never met the Personification of the land.  
> He later learns that Canada was Vinland and decides to visit him on his 150th birthday, alongside Finland.

Sweden was among the Vikings accompanying Leif Erikson across the sea when Erikson had cried out that he spotted land. Of course everyone on board the ship was confused, they weren't meant to run into land for days. Sweden was obviously the most surprised and curious out of anyone on the ship even if he didn't show it and was more then eager to get on the land. He'd discovered a new Island, and with a new Island, came a new nation. He hoped it wouldn't be too hard to find the personification and wished that if there were any humans already living in the land, that they were nonviolent. Sure, he was a Viking along with everyone else on board the ship, but sometimes it's just more convenient to be peaceful. When they got close to the shore, The Anchor was dropped and the smaller boats were released so they could row the rest of the way. The second Sweden touched foot on the new ground he got shivers down his spine, and inwardly smiled at the sensation of stepping on another nations land.

_A new land to claim as his._

Erikson had been quick to order the others to explore in pairs or trios which all the others instantly did. Sweden set out on his own, not needing to have another accompany him since he proved himself as being extremely strong and resilient and got to exploring the thick forests in front of them. That was the first thing he noticed about this foreign land. The beach was remarkably small, and hardly present, with the land turning into a thick forest in a matter of metres off the beach. Sweden stuck to one direction and made no turns so he could find his way back easily. As he walked through the forest, he heard multiple birds chirping and squawking at his presence and he occasionally heard rustling in the bushes from other animals. He kept his axe in his hand, chopping away at branches in his way, and ready if he was to be suddenly attacked by anything hostile. He found nothing of interest after about an hour so he turned around, walking the same straight line back to the shore. The unfamiliar land still had him slightly jarred even after an hour and he had trouble tracking down Leif. Since the man was Icelandic he couldn't simply hone in on the feeling of home, which was why he chose such a straightforward way of exploring.

When he arrived back to the shore, some other Vikings had since came back as well and had set up a fire. As he sat next to another man, he noticed that there were other men bringing in fish that he assumed would be cooked over the fire.  
  


A few more days passed and Sweden still found no Personification. Him and Leif had since named the place _Vinland_ after the abundance of Grape vines they later discovered. Sweden was constantly looking everywhere he could in search of Vinland's personification but he could never find them.  
  


Much more time passed and Sweden still found no other nation. Soon enough, Erikson told them they were to leave and head back to Greenland and leave Vinland behind. Sweden was apprehensive at first, still wanting to find the personification that he had yet to spot. Of course Sweden didn't have much power over the other Viking since he was unaware of his status and so Sweden agreed to follow Leif back to Greenland.

* * *

Centuries passed and Sweden never went back to Vinland, though He never stopped thinking about Vinland and what the country could've been.

Then the 1750s rolled around. He finally got wind of what was called the new world. Many new countries were discovered and Sweden's first thought was Vinland. The French had found Vinland. He wanted so desperately to visit France himself, but he didn't want to arrive unexpectedly, so he wrote a letter to the nation and sent it to him. A month later, he got a response that was very adamantly against him meeting Vinland. Well, It was Canada now, but Sweden would have trouble adjusting to the knew name.

It was only a few decades later when he was notified that Canada, previously known to him as Vinland, had been transferred into England's care after English forces fought and won a very quick battle, that, in Sweden's opinion, was hardly even a battle. He soon sent a letter to England asking to meet with Canada, and got a similar response to the one from France that he'd received a few years prior.

It was the year 1776 when Sweden first got word that the Southern neighbour to Canada had declared its independence from England. He thought not much off it, after all, they weren't the Vinland he was so interested in. All he knew was that there was a long, and hard fought war on for both sides.

The next time he heard of big news from the new world was 1810, when Spain's Colony of Mexico declared Independence as well, kickstarting a war. Once again he paid no mind to it, as Mexico was much to southern and too hot for him. Mexico also wasn't Vinland.

He finally got word of Canada's Independence in 1867. When he first got the news of their independence, he had expected there to be a war involved as with the other two he knew about, but that hadn't been the case. In simplest terms, Canada had merely asked and received. He knew there was more to it, there always was when it came to politics and land, that he knew, but what he didn't know was the specifics.

1982 was when Canada had gained full independence from England. He remembered that date, as it was the first time in years he heard of the country in a positive light. Anytime he'd heard of the country in the past years was about the notoriously Merciless troops that the Canadian people lead into the two world wars, so when he learned of the full independence, he felt a strange sense of proudness.

* * *

He decided to visit Canada on the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of his independence, in 2017. Sweden had since seen the man at meetings, but could never bring himself to talk to him. The man always shied away into corners to mumble into the fluffiness of that Polar bear that he seemed to always have with him. Sweden had tried on multiple occasions to approach the younger nation, only to be pulled away by either Denmark or Finland. He would get angry when Denmark bothered him, though he had trouble showing it, but he could never complain when Finland, otherwise known to him as Tino, was the one asking for him.

Which lead him to late June of 2017, on a plane with Tino to the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario. He'd been able to easily convince the smaller man to join him and he was glad that the other was accompanying him. He always felt more human around Tino and more than loved being with him. For gods sake, he loved Tino. He'd recently confessed to him only to be confessed back to by Tino, which earned him a right to use the nation's human name. In turn, Sweden granted Tino the privilege to use His human name, Berwald, in any context. That night had been one of the best nights he'd had in a while. To finally kiss Tino and explore his body with both his hands and mouth was one of his greatest wishes, and we was beyond aroused to hear those quiet moans from the smaller man.

Seated next to Tino on the plane, He looked to him and gently rested his head on Tino's shoulder, trying his best to show his affection,

"Oh, Berwald, Are you tired? The flight's got just about an hour left," Tino looked to Sweden,

" _Nej,_ it has j'st been a l'ng fl'ght," Tino grinned, then rested his head on Sweden's,

"Go to sleep, you're tired. I'll wake you when we land, _Okei?_ " Sweden grunted quietly as a response and closed his eyes, starting to dose off.

He was woken up roughly an hour later by Tino lightly tapping him to tell him the plane had landed as he said he would. Tino gave him a quick, chaste kiss on the lips and smiled as he stepped out into the crowded aisle. Sweden nodded and slowly got up, quietly groaning as his back began to ache when he stood up too suddenly. Gods, he was getting old. He heard Tino quietly giggling as he held out a hand which Sweden grabbed as he was pulled into the aisle with him. Sweden then brought down their luggage from overhead as they slowly shuffled out of the plane. As they left the airport and tried to hail a taxi, Tino smiled to Sweden once again,

"So, We are here to meet _Kanada, Joo?_ " Sweden nodded,

" _Ja,_ I b’lieve h's human n'me 's Mathias or s’mething like th’t," Tino nodded,

"you said you didn't meet him when you first landed all those years ago, right?" It was Sweden's turn to nod silently to Tino, "Don't worry about it, It'll be fine,"

" 'm n't w’rried," Sweden replied quickly, which prompted Tino to place his hand on his and look him in the eyes. He watched as Tino searched his own eyes, deciphering his emotions he had trouble showing outwardly,

"I can see it on your face, _Kullanmuru,_ " Sweden simply gave a quiet hum of acknowledgement as a Taxi finally pulled over for them and he loaded in his bags to the trunk. After giving the location to the Taxi driver, him and Tino got in the car and they were driven off to their hotel.

When they Arrived, Sweden paid the driver and unloaded from the trunk as Tino went inside to pick up their keycards and get their rooms. The process was relatively quick and soon they were in their room.  
  


The next morning Sweden and Tino woke up in each others arms, with the two of them awakening at the same time as their alarm dinged. It was roughly seven in the morning when The two were awoken from their sweet slumber and Tino was the first out of bed, grumbling as he made a coffee, still tired from the long night he and Sweden had. Sweden stayed silent as he slowly rose from the bed and stood behind Tino, wrapping his arms around the smaller man's waist and resting his chin on Tino's head. Tino smiled and grabbed Sweden's head with his his free hand, tilting it down to kiss him,

" _Hyvää huomenta, Kullanmuru,_ " Tino mumbled into the kiss,

" _God morgon, Sötnos,_ " Sweden muttered as he broke away. Tino smiled,

"we should get to wherever we need to be as soon as possible, you know as much as I do how big these celebrations get... Especially since it's _Kanada's_ one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary," Sweden nodded,

" _Ja,_ I kn'w," was his simply reply before turning away to grab his own cup of Coffee.

They stopped by the hotel's Café for a quick breakfast and set out to Canada's Parliament hill where they were hoping on finding the larger nation. It wasn't long before they began seeing that roads were closed as they got closer to the hill and the crowds were already massive. As they approached the hill there was a security booth filled to the brim with people wanting to get to the hill. The line went down surprisingly quick and it was soon Sweden and Tino's turn to be checked by the security guards. It too went relatively quick and by the time they were on the hill it was ten in the morning and the crowds grew even more thick. Both Sweden and Tino kept their eyes peeled for a tall, blond, France lookalike, and by the time the Prime Minister was at the stage that was set up to give a speech, the crowds were some of the thickest the two nations had seen. They hardly had room the breathe and were having trouble trying to find Canada. The man was good at simply blending in with his surroundings, and the fact that everywhere Sweden looked he saw a Canadian didn't help. With locating Canada himself. The speech the Prime Minister was giving droned on in the back but Sweden ignored it. He was trying to find Canada. He was trying to Rediscover Vinland.

As he heard the Canadian PM finish his speech, he noticed that most people began to leave, but some still lingered, continuing to watch the PM expectantly. About a minute passed, and the PM began to speak again, this time in French. With much more people having filtered away, Sweden and Tino were able to search for Canada much easier. He continued scanning the smaller crowd for the other blond nation only for Tino to suddenly yank his sleeve and point to the stage,

"I found _Kanada,_ " was the simple three word explanation Tino gave Sweden. Sure enough, when Sweden looked up to the stage he noticed Canada standing behind the PM. Sweden and Tino quickly made their way to the front of the stage and waited for the PM to finish his speech in French. When the speech was done, Tino immediately got to waving frantically at Canada. Unfortunately the PM though the waving was for him and waved back, smiling. Sweden let out a quiet huff and placed a hand on Tino's shoulder reassuringly and did his best to show a smile to comfort Tino. Tino looked up and gave a sweet smile in response before grabbing Sweden's hand and dragging him off,

"The stairs are on that end, we can meet _Kanada_ when he leaves the stage," Sweden nodded and followed closely behind Tino.

There they watched as the PM was bombarded by news media and walked off to join the festivities. Canada walked down next and before he could leave, Tino cried out for him,

" _Kanada!_ " Canada instantly turned on his heel to see Sweden and Finland and it took him a moment to process,

"S-Sweden? Fin-Finland? W-what are you two d-doing here?" Sweden's heart sank at the inflection in the younger nation's voice, that, to him, made him sound more Concerned then Confused, "W-why are you here?" Canada approached them, gripping the bars of the fence that separated them with one hand, the other Holding his head. He caught a glimpse of Tino's eyes widening as Canada continued to question their presence,

" _Kanada,_ We came to wish you a happy anniversary and happy birthday! There's not anything wrong with that, Is there?" Sweden felt his heart lift a bit at Tino’s cheerful smile,

" _N-non,_ not at all, I-it's just you're the only t-two to wish me a happy a-anniversary..." Sweden inwardly flinched at that,

" _M-Mitä?_ That can't be right. I must admit that I occasionally can't see you, but I could never forget such a huge thing like your one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary," Tino placed a hand on Canada's shoulder to try and reassure him, but Canada shrugged it off, mumbling something in French,

" _Kan-_ "

"HALT! _ARRÊT!_ Release the Canadian government representative!" There were suddenly five armed policemen running up from behind Canada and glaring down Sweden and Tino. Tino quickly released his grip on Canada and raised his hands,

" _Anteeksi!_ W-We're friends! We have n-no intention of h-harming him!" Tino defended. Sweden simply nodded, crossing his arms, refusing to surrender. Canada quickly turn to the police men on his side of the fence,

"I-it's fine, Officer, H-he's correct, we are friends," the officer that seemed to be leading the others looked to Canada then to Sweden and Tino and sighed,

"Very well, I apologize for the inconvenience, but you,” he pointed to Canada, “are supposedly important to the government, for what reason, I do not know,” And the Officers were off. If Sweden didn't know any better he'd think that the officer in the lead was scowling at him, but he chose to ignore it in favour of looking back to Canada, who was now hunched over, leaning on the fence,

" _Kanada_ , 'm s'rry the oth'rs alw'ys seem ta f'rget ya, but I h've alm'st alw'ys been able ta see ya," He tried doing as Tino had done to him many times, placing a comforting on his back,

"W-What? How am I important enough to you for you r-remember me when n-not even Papa or my own brother's notice me?" He could hear Canada's voice start to break as he watched a small tear form at his eye,

"You are _Vinland._ Th' l'nd me and oth'r v’kings d’scovered b'ck in th' 1000s... I n’ver found ya wh'n we f'rst l'nded, 'nd aft'r we l'ft we n’ver r'turned..." Sweden spoke slowly, trying to smooth his voice to make it sound more friendly,

"I didn't know you were with the Vikings that landed there," Sweden nodded,

" _Ja,_ I w's," Canada closed his eyes and hunched over the fence even more, placing his forehead to the top bar of the fence, " _Kanada?_ " Sweden asked, slightly concerned as he went silent,

" _Kan-_ "

"Please, _S'il vous plaît,_ I prefer Matthew," Tino's eyes widened,

"You would allow us to use your human name?" Canada nodded,

" _Oui,_ I, uh, prefer it over my real name. Makes me feel more human," sweden shrugged. To each their own, he supposed. All nations had their real names and Human names, and each nation had their preference on what they were called and how much their name meant to them. Sweden was proud of who he was and the country he represented, so the only person who he allowed to use his human name was Tino, his lover. Tino, however, seemed a bit more laid back. He let the other Nordics use his human name, and didn't seem to care if others outside of the Nordics used Tino to refer to him. Tino grinned,

" _Okei,_ we'll call you Matthew then," Tino turned your Sweden, "right, Berwald?" Sweden nodded,

"If th't is wh't ya pr'fer," Canada-No, Matthew, Sweden had to correct himself. Matthew lifted his head up,

" _O-oui._ Um, Sweden, Finland, would like to join me in the festivities? There's going to be a concert in about an hour if you're interested," Tino gripped Sweden's hand and looked to him expectantly. Sweden nodded,

" _Ja,_ W' would l’ve ta join ya," Matthew's face lit up and he clasped his hands together, and a wide grin grew on his face,

" _Tiguidou!_ while we wait for the concert to start, let me give you a tour of my capital!" Tino nodded,

"Sounds great, Matthew! Lead the way!"

That day had been fun, even if Sweden had trouble making his joy apparent. Tino, bless the man, was the one person who could successfully read his face. He'd been working on showing emotions more often since he got with Tino a few weeks ago and he was making progress, albeit very slow progress.  
  


By the time the day ended, the three were too tired to do much else. Matthew walked them back to their hotel and the two nordics just about passed out on their bed the second they entered their room.

* * *

**Translations:**

_**Swedish** Nej- No_

_**Finnish** Okei- Okay_

_**Swedish/Finnish** Kanada- Canada_

_**Swedish** Ja- Yes_

_**Finnish** Joo- Yes_

_**Finnish** _ _Kullanmuru- Finnish term of Endearment. Translates directly into 'Gold Crumb'_

_**Finnish** _ _Hyvää huomenta- Good morning_

_**Swedish** God Morgon- Good morning_

_**Swedish** Sötnos- Swedish term of endearment. Translates directly into 'Sweet Nose'_

_**French** Non- No_

_**Finnish** Mitä- What_

_**French** Arrêt- Stop_

_**French** Très bien- Very well_

_**Finnish** _ _Anteeksi- Sorry_

_**French** _ _S'il vous plaît- Please_

_**French** Oui- Yes_

_**Québécois French** _ _Tiguidou- a Québécois French exclaimation. Has no actual translation and is used like how you would say "Great!" In response to something_


	4. Animals to Fear(Gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Australia is invited to Canada’s place to see what kind of animals live on his brother’s land.

Australia was surprised to receive the Email from his distant brother and fellow commonwealth country, Canada. He never really thought much about Canada since their countries were polar opposites and they didn’t have much reason to talk with him. He supposed it was a place he wanted to visit at some point, but it just didn’t seem that interesting To him and he wasn’t very close with Canada himself. Which was why he was surprised when he’d received that Email from him. It was very brief, but it got the point across easily. Canada was inviting him to explore the Canadian wilderness because he had heard of Australia’s love for animals. How could he deny such an offer? He’d be able to bond with another Commonwealth and he got to see other animals.

That lead him to his plane just touching down at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in Ontario, one of Canada’s Provinces where he would be picked up. He packed pretty light with it being summer, but still brought some long sleeves and proper pants in case it got cold. He’d decided to let his Koala at home, not wanting him to possibly get hurt during the plane or when they landed and began exploring the wilderness. He feared that the Koala would lash out and attack the local wildlife, and while he loved him, he didn’t want to cause a fuss.

As he walked through the airport after unloading from the plane, his two bags in hand, he began to scan the welcoming crowd for the blond man. He kept looking for Canada, but wasn’t able to find him. He must’ve been walking around for ten minutes until he was approached by the man in question,

“A-Australia? I’m right here,” Australia quickly turned to meet the man behind him that had tapped on his shoulder to be face to face with Canada,

“Ah, there ya are, Mate! I was lookin’ for ya!” Canada sighed,

“Yeah, Lets ju- Australia, where is your coat? You do know that it’s fall, almost winter here, eh? What you’re wearing isn’t goin’ to keep you warm,” Australia looked down to what he was wearing,

“Winter? I thought it was late summer?” Canada shook his head,

“Different sides of the earth, remember? While it’s summer where you are, it’s winter here. While it’s day where you are, it’s nighttime here,” He explained. Australia nodded and looked back up to Canada,

“Right, I forgot. So, uh, you’ll let me use an extra coat, right?” Canada slowly nodded,

“ _Oui_ , now, let’s get going, eh?” Australia have a smile and followed Canada out the door and into the cold air. He shivered as the wind blew and he regretted not bringing even a sweater. He heard Canada giggle quietly, and they continued walking to the parking lot where Canada had his car parked. About half way into the drive, Canada turned to look at Australia,

“Matthew, Call me Matthew,” Australia, slightly startled at Canada, or should he say Matthew, suddenly speaking up,

“Right, sounds good! Call me Jett!” He smiled, which caused Matthew to smile in return,

“Really?” He nodded,

“Yup! We’re brothers, after all!” Matthew eyes widened,

“D’you really consider us as brothers?” Australia smiled wide,

“Well, We were both raised by Britain, so that makes us atleast part Brothers, dontcha think?” Matthew returned his smile nervously, and replied with his usual quiet voice,

“I suppose... well, we should be at my house in another hour, so I hope you get comfy,” Australia yawned,

“Think I’ll be goin’ to sleep, mate, Jet lag’s got me messed up,” Matthew hummed a response and Australia began to drift off to sleep.

About an hour later, Australia was woken up by Matthew gently shaking him. Still drowsy, He slowly made his way out of the car and unloaded his Matthew grabbed his keys from his pockets and opened the door to the house. He slowly took in his surroundings, finally noticing they were in a partly dense Forest. There was a large field leading to the house, but behind it was a massive forest. He assumed they would be spending a lot of time in that forest considering the purpose of his visit.

He spent the rest of the day getting used to the time. Being a nation, he had a much harder time adjusting to a change of time zones, and the fact that he was now in Canada, his polar opposite, didn’t help. By The time night rolled around, he was able to finally let himself sleep, and he drifted off to sleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes.

* * *

The next morning he was once again woken up by Matthew gently shaking him. He’d fallen asleep on the large couch so when he was woken up he nearly fell off the couch. Matthew looked like he was holding in a laugh and spoke up,

“Food’s ready, Eh,” Australia nodded. He hadn’t eaten since was on the plane, so he was starving. When he sat at the table, there was a bowl of Bacon set and there were two empty plates set across from each other. A bowl of toast was next to the bacon and Matthew had returned to the stove, “take Bacon or Toast from the bowls, just leave at least five pieces of bacon and two pieces of toast for me,” Australia nodded, sitting down and taking some food for himself, “d’you want any Eggs?” Australia looked up from his toast,

“I’ll have two scrambled eggs If that’s alright,” Matthew nodded,

“Two scrambled eggs comin’ right up!” He smiled, turning back to the stove, cracking two eggs into a bowl and grabbing a fork to scramble them.

When they finished their breakfast, Matthew placed the now empty plates and bowls in the dishwasher then smiled, looking to Australia,

“SO!” He clasped his hands together, smiling, “I think the first animal I want you to see is Kumayuka! He was in my room when we first arrived and he hasn’t come downstairs yet, so stay right there, eh?” Australia nodded, confused. About a minute passed and he began hearing quiet shouts in French and soon a small, white bear came tumbling down the stairs where he was waiting. It’s paws were flailing wildly as Matthew soon rounded the corner, panting,

“ _OSTI!_ JETT! _Veillez à bien!_ He attacks went he’s scared!” Australia shrugged and stood his ground. He was the country of Australia, he could deal with a scared baby bear. His wilderness was what he was most known for and the day a simple baby bear took too much out of him was the day that he was no longer Australia. He readied himself for the bear to tackle him only for it to skid to a halt to look at him, confused. Then it tackled him to the ground and ran away into the kitchen, Matthew not too far behind, yelling what he assumed to be French swears,

“Kumatina, _Arrêt_ , It’s me, Matthew!” The bear slowed down and looked up to Matthew, “Kumagogo?” The bear let out what Australia thought was a sigh, but it wasn’t in his knowledge that bears could sighed, “Kumakiko?” Matthew repeated, looking to the bear with concerned eyes, “ _Je suis désolé,_ I didn’t mean to startle you,” The bear nodded,

“Wʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ?” Australia jumped back. The bear just talked. Bears Don’t do that. Okay, now he was freaked out,

“Why- No, HOW is that bear talking!” He cried, backing away from the bear,

“Eh? Oh, you mean Kumatea?”

“YES! And why do you keep changing his name?!” Australia shouted. Matthew gulped,

“I-I... He’s kinda always been with me and able to talk, so I don’t question it... a-as for his name, well... I Don’t have the best memory, it’s as simple as that,” He answered in his now quieter voice. Australia nodded, still confused,

“Okay, sure... so, um, what do I call him?”

“Kᴜᴍᴀ! Cᴀʟʟ ᴍᴇ Kᴜᴍᴀ!” The bear shouted to Australia, and he nodded. Kuma turned to look at Canada, “Wʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ?” Canada sighed and dipped his head, closing his eyes,

“I’m Matthew...” he said quietly. The bear tilted his head and nodded,

“Fᴏᴏᴅ?” Matthew let out a huff,

“Food’s already in your bowl,” he pointed to the corner of kitchen, where, sure enough, was a dog bowl with a large fish in it that Australia hadn’t initially noticed,

“So, um, that’s Kumajicha. As you can see, He’s a baby polar bear. Uh, very dangerous animals, Kumagal is fortunately tame and domestic. He only attacks when he’s scared, and even then he’s more likely to run as you just saw,” Australia nodded. That was right, the bear had halted but then tackled him to the ground to continue running from Matthew, “so, I was thinking since you’re here for only a few days, and this is the first day, we could spend some time hiking in the forest, eh?”

“Sounds Grouse!” Matthew nodded,

“ _Tiguidou!_ It’s still early winter so you only need a sweater...” Matthew scanned Australia, “on second thought, get a coat. You’re used to extreme heat, the cold will probably hit you hard,”

“My climate isn’t that hot!” Matthew tolled his eyes,

“Compared to mine it is, so get a coat from the closest right there,” he pointed to a closest just down the hall. When Australia walked to the closest and opened it, he saw various different coats of varying thickness and fluffiness. He picked one out that seemed somewhat thin but still took Matthew’s advice into account, while Matthew simply pulled on a sweater.  
  


They were hiking for about an hour along a small, dirt footpath, when they arrived to a very small clearing where a small wooden bench was. Before Australia could ask about it, Matthew spoke up, sitting down on the bench,

“This is a really good spot to see Blue Jays. Take a seat, if we stay still and quiet they’ll probably come out,” he smiled and Australia nodded, staying silent as he sat down.

About half an hour passed when a small Blue and white bird flew up to Matthew, landing on his shoulder. Matthew lifted his hand slowly, putting his finger in front of the bird, prompting it to jump on his finger. The bird did so and let out a quiet squeak as Matthew once again lifted his other hand to lightly pet the bird. It gave yet another squeak as it leaned into Matthew’s touch and continued to quietly squeak until Matthew sighed,

“Yeah yeah, hold on,” he grumbled then turn to Australia, “wanna feed him?”

“Yes, of course I want to feed him!” Matthew smiled,

“I’ve got a bad of bird seed in my pocket, grab it from my pocket and take a small handful. I trust you know to keep your hand flat, eh?” Australia nodded. What kind of animal lover would he be if he didn’t know to hold his hand flat? Grabbing the bag from Matthew’s pocket and taking out a small handful, he slowly placed it in front of the Blue Jay. At the site of the Food, the bird instantly hopped on his hand and began pecking at the seeds. After a few seconds, the bird stopped eating to look up at both Matthew and Australia. Without warning, it made a loud, squawk noise that pierced Australia’s eardrums,

“Crickey, He’s loud when he wants to be, isn’t he?” Matthew nodded then slowly shuffled away from Australia,

“sorry,”

“Why?” He saw as Matthew opened his mouth to response only for his words to be drowned out by the bird squawking even louder before, repeating its call for nearly a minute, getting louder each time. As he finished calling, More squawks came from the forest and five more blue jays came flying into Australia’s hand, violently pecking at his hand for the seeds and squawking at each other. He could hardly hear Matthew laugh as the birds started to calm down. When all the food was gone, the six blue jays squawked loudly then flew away. Matthew smiled,

“Blue jays are loud, eh?”

“Damn right they are!” Matthew laughed,

“Get used to it. They tend to sit outside the window in the morning and cry out for food,” Australia sighed,

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Mate!” Matthew simply grinned and stood up, stuffing the now empty baggy in his sweater pocket.

On the way back to the house, Matthew had stopped to look at a trees stump. Australia was confused at first with why Matthew was inspecting the stump, then he got closer and noticed... Bite marks? And wood shavings on the ground next to the tree stump? No, there were multiple tree stumps that had bite marks, and upon closer inspection, he noticed that the stumps were sharp, like that had been sharpened with a pencil sharpener,

“Wha-“

“Beavers!” Matthew grinned, excitement clear in his voice, “Maybe we can catch one in the river, building it’s dam!” Matthew’s grin widened, looking to Australia with a certain sparkle in his eyes. He bent down and rubbed his thumb over the bite marks, “these are pretty fresh! And...” he paused to look at the tree stump once again then scanned the river nearby, “since we didn’t walk along the river, the Dam should beeeee...” Australia followed Matthew’s gaze along the river bank, “Right there! _cette jambette s'améliore!_ ” He cheered in French, looking to Australia expectantly. Australia then spotted what Matthew was pointing at. A gigantic pile of logs and large sticks was nestled along the shore a bit farther down, “that’s a Beaver dam!” He went silent and left pled back to Australia, sighing, “sorry, They’re my national animal so I get excited whenever I see them,” Australia chuckled

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Mate!” He gave Matthew a friendly smack on the back which cussed Matthew to giggle and give a nervous smile,

“Well, if we want to, we can get a bit closer and see if they’re are any, eh?” Australia nodded,

“From what I’ve gathered, it seems Beaver eat Trees, so I can’t imagine what they look like!” Matthew tilted his head and nervously chuckled,

“Eh, they’re probably not what you’re expecting,” Australia shrugged. He was used to strange looking animals, he was Australia for gods sake, home of many Deadly and dangerous animals. They approached the dam and that was when Australia spotted a small, rodent like Creature with a flat tail. Matthew smiled, “There’s a beaver!” The beaver raised its furry head at the noise and slowly swam over to the shore where Matthew was. The blond man backed up, his hands held high. Australia scoffed,

“This little guy can’t possibly be Dangerous, could he?” He knelt down and placed his hand out flat for the creature to smell. It slowly got closer to him and lifted its own, very tiny hands, placing them on his own, “awww, look Matthew, he likes me!” Matthew shook his head,

“Jett, Please, the Beav-“ Before Matthew could finish his sentence the beaver chomped down on Australia’s hand and skittered away, fleeing back to the water. Australia let out a loud screech as he felt the pain course through his hand and lower arm. He clenched his teeth, trying his best not to make anymore noise, and silently cursed the beaver for biting him. He should’ve assumed that an animal that presumably ate trees would have strong teeth and that the bite would be painful, but he was more focused on trying to pet the wild animal. Matthew was now by his side, muttering what he assumed to be curses in French. Matthew quickly ushered him out of the forest and into his house, continuing to mutter in French, only speaking up in English to tell him to lay down on the large couch. He slowly laid down, still trying his best to keep quiet. The pain had since died down from when he was first bit, but it was still hurting. Matthew then came rushing into the room, a large cloth in hand and a spritz bottle in the other,

“Hey, You’re a nation, you’ll heal quickly. Hopefully it’s not as bad as it looks and you’ll be healed by tomorrow morning, eh?” Australia nodded, staying silent, and let Matthew dress the wound. When he was done, Australia began to grow drowsy, so h Lo e let himself fall asleep there on the couch.

He woke up the next day at around lunchtime and was served a small bowl of soup as he rested for the remainder of the day, his hand still sore. It had since healed for the most part with the pain just needing to subside. By the end of the day, he was fully healed, and wanted to get out and about once again. Matthew insisted he stay in for the rest of the day and wait until tomorrow to get moving, his reason being that it was already dark out and there’d be no point. He initially wanted to complain, but upon seeing the pitch black of outside from through the window, he decided that he’d stay inside, not wanting to get lost while it was cold and he couldn’t see anything.

* * *

He woke up late the day after, but the pain was all gone so he was fine to continue exploring with Matthew. Unfortunately, Matthew had a different Idea, because at breakfast, when pancakes were set at his spot at the table and Kuma was fed, Matthew spoke up, telling him they needed to go grocery shopping for more Eggs and vanilla extract for making pancakes, as well as other various foods. Sure, fine, it’d take up the morning, but he could live with that. He shrugged and turned back to the delightful pancakes that Matthew had made. God, they were some of the best pancakes he’d ever had, no, scratch that, they were the best pancakes he’d ever had.

When he’d finished scarfing down as many pancakes as he could, Matthew put the dirty dishes into the dish washer and grabbed a bag from the pantry connected to the kitchen, a subtle smile on his face,

“We’ll be driving into the city, but to get to the city there’s quite a bit of wooded area we have to drive through. We drove through it on the way here, but you were sleeping so you wouldn’t remember, eh?” Australia nodded. Matthew held up a finger to tell Australia to wait as he was pulling on his thick jacket. When Matthew returned he had his car keys in hand, and motioned to out the door where the car was unlocked and Australia got in.

Since he’d been asleep nearly the whole drive he didn’t realize how far out they were from the city. It was about half an hour into their hour long drive, when Matthew abruptly slammed on the brakes. He wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings so the sudden halt made him quickly aware of his surroundings, which consisted of a massive deer-like creature. Not only was the creature absolutely huge, but it’s neck was insanely thick and it’s antlers spread out to the sides instead of up like other seats. A moose! the realization hit him like a truck. This was a moose! He’d seen photos of them before, but he never realized how large they really were. God, they were enormous. The moose was walking along the road, occasionally letting out a let gruff of a car whizzed past on the other side of the road. Unfortunately for the two brothers, the moose was walking along their side of the road, so they couldn’t simply drive past it. Matthew let out a huff and relaxed, slouching down in his seat,

“ _pour l'amour d'Osti_ ,” Australia heard him mumble. Curious, He tapped on Matthew’s shoulder, getting this attention,

“What’s that mean?” Matthew took a moment to respond,

“I said the _Quebecois_ French equivalent of _For Fucks sake_ ,”

“And what’s _Qwa-back-qwa_ French?” Matthew sighed,

“First off, it’s _Québécois. Qwa-Beck-Qwa_ ,” he annunciated. Australia nodded, “Secondly, no, not all French is the same... it’s sorta like how Austria speaks his own version German. I speak my own version of French, and, much like Austria’s German, it’s very similar to normal French. Some words are different and we use different sayings here and there, and sometimes some words are pronounced differently, but there isn’t too much of a difference,” He shrugged, hoping that explanation was enough. Australia nodded,

“Alright, so, what about that Moose? Do we just wait here ‘till it’s gone, or what?” Matthew shook his head,

“ ‘e’ll move when ‘e’s good an’ ready,” Australia looked at Matthew, confused by the sudden change in accent, but before he was able to question it, Matthew interrupted him to tell him not to question it.

“It just comes out sometimes,” was the only explanation he got from the blond man. What felt like an eternity had passed by the time the moose had decided to walked back into the woods. Then yet another realization hit him. No one had tried to Usher the moose away. He was sure that the moose could and would attack with Those massive antlers, but sharp teeth never stopped his own people from scaring away Dingos from their yards. Then again, Dingos ate other animals while he was positive that a Moose was a herbivore, but once again, he’d learned earlier that Beavers were Herbivores that are trees and they had given one hell of a bite, he knew that much. He shrugged it off as the moose being another dangerous animal that everyone was afraid of.

When the finally pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store, which he noticed was called the superstore. They entered and Matthew immediately grabbed a cart and pushed it over to the cold section of the store. Australia shivered when the walked into an asile consisting of eggs and dairy products,

“Is there any milk you prefer, or-“

“No, I’ll drink whatever,” Matthew smiled,

“Perfect, I’ll grab a few bags then!” As Matthew finished off his sentence he opened on of the sliding doors to pick up a bag labeled _Milk_. Alright, now he was confused,

“Why is ya milk in a bag?” Matthew simply chuckled,

“Oh, Don’t worry, not everyone here uses Bagged milk, in fact it’s mostly just the people in Ontario, the Province we’re currently in. Québec and Manitoba, the next provinces over occasionally have bagged milk, but cartons are more common there,” he shrugged, “It’s kinda weird, yeah, but that’s just how it is, eh?” Australia nodded. He never watched Matthew as he made food so he never noticed that the milk was coming from a bag, so he was curious as to how that was done.

The rest of the grocery shopping was pretty simple and easy.

Australia occasionally caught sight of a brand he didn’t recognize and Matthew would explain it to him, and on a few occasions he even added said items to the cart to try later. By the end of the trip, Australia had picked out three things he was interested in. Something called a _Coffee Crisp_ , which seemed to be some sort of chocolate bar. It had caught his eye because he recognized it, having seen it in some of the sweet shops on his land, though he never bother to buy them then. The stock in those shops never seemed to have much of the chocolate bars, so he never bothered with buying them, but when he saw the amount of Coffee crisps in the candy aisle and recognized them, he decided this would be the time to try them.

The next food that caught his eye was a brown chip bag. The product was supposedly called _Hickory Sticks_ if what the large Black and yellow text said was true, and to be honest the only reason he had noticed it was because there was so little of them left. Matthew had looked to the bag with a smile and quickly explained them to him. Apparently they were thin potato chips with Hickory-Smoke flavouring. He decided to buy it due to his curiosity about what Hickory-smoke was supposed to taste like.

The final thing he got for himself was something that was in a large box, called _Jos Louis_. He’d picked it up and pronounced the name, interested in what it was, only for Matthew to giggle at him. It was quickly explained to him that it was a French name and it was pronounced _Joe Louie_. Matthew then went on to explain what it was as he did the previous products which lead Australia to buy them.

The hour long drive was long but felt much shorter compared to the drive to the nearby town. By the time they had gotten back it was too late to do much so They spent that day mostly just chilling in the house.

* * *

The next day Matthew once again woke him up, and this time he was finally able to wake up in a bed.

He sighed as he threw his legs over the bed and looked to his feet, seeing Kuma,

“Wɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ Fᴇᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ?” Australia shook his head,

“No, that’s what ya owner’s gonna do, mate,” the bear tilted his head,

“Wʜᴏ?” He sighed,

“Your owner. Y’know, the guy that feeds ya?” The bear took a seat at Australia’s feet,

“Wʜᴏ ɪs ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴᴇʀ?” Australia sighed heavily, frustrated with the bears forgetfulness,

“How can yo-“

“JETT! KUMAGIYA! _LE PETIT DÉJEUNER EST PRÊT!_ BREAKFAST IS READY!” Matthew’s yell interrupted his answer and he could only think to sigh once again. Kuma dashed out of his room when Matthew called which allowed him to quickly get dressed and run down to eat breakfast with Matthew,

“So! Since today is your last full day here, I was thinking it was about time you meet a Goose... that is, a Canadian Goose,” Matthew spoke the word Goose with a slight Scowled that Australia almost didn’t even notice. Then he processed the first hit. The days had flown by, and he’d completely forgotten that this would be his last full day. He had to leave tomorrow morning. He inwardly cursed himself, but simply nodded in response to Matthew, “Since it’s early Winter right now, most of the geese will be flying south, but I’ll be damned if there isn’t a few flocks that stick around for as long as possible just to annoy locals,” He continued. Australia nodded once again, not entirely understanding. Oh, he knew about geese. Geese, while most of the time being tame, were no strangers to attacking humans if they got too close, he knew that all too well. He’d heard stories from America about how he hated when Canadian geese came to his land during winter due to their aggressive nature and Australia had tried to tell him to just not interact with them, but America insisted that he had already tried that.

That was what lead them to driving about half an hour out to a national park where Canadian geese were known to congregate before flying south. As they pulled into the gravel parking lot, Australia immediately noticed the amount of large, brown birds with Black necks, just sitting in the middle of the parking lot and taking up parking spaces as they slept between the lines. He figured that they were Canadian geese and next noticed that the other people getting in and out of their cars were cautiously eyeing the resting birds. They weren’t doing anything inherently aggressive, but then again some of his animals were peaceful until provoked and initially seemed innocent.

The day went by quite quickly after that. He was chased down by one of the Canadian geese in the parking lot after he’d accidentally stepped near one but other then that not much happened that day.

The next day he awoke early in the morning and Matthew drove him to the airport,

“Hey, Jett, I had fun, eh,” Australia turned around as he was about to enter the airport, and smiled,

“So did I, I wish I could’ve stayed longer,”

* * *

**Translations:**

_**French** Oui- Yes_

_**Québécois French** Osti- has no direct translation, but is used like how we would say “Fuck!” When we’re scared or startled etc._

_**French** _ _Veillez à bien- Watch out_

_**French** Arrêt- Stop_

_**French** je suis désolé- I am sorry_

_**Québécois French** _ _Tiguidou- a Québécois French exclaimation. Has no actual translation and is used like how you would say "Great!" In response to something_

_**Québécois French** _ _cette jambette s'améliore- this trip just got better_

**_Québécois French_ ** _pour l'amour d'Osti- For Fucks sake_

_**French** _ _Le Petit déjeuner est prêt- Breakfast is ready_


	5. Population Matters(Gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iceland feels strangely at home when he’s around Canada. He’s not quite sure why, so he asks around.

Iceland was attending his first United Nations meeting, and to say he was nervous was a huge understatement. He was a year late to join since he joined in 1946, so he was sure he didn't have much to catch up on, but he was still nervous. Norway had told him repeatedly not to stress out over it, but he couldn't help it. The fifty founding nations were, for the most part, intimidating. He would be meeting China, England, Greece, America and other countries much bigger then him in their own ways. When Norway had told him to calm down, he scoffed. Of course Norway wasn't worried, he'd been among the Fifty founding nations.

When the day arrived for the meeting to take place, his anxiety was through the roof. Norway, or as he made Iceland call him, Lukas, had helped him navigate to the large board room where a small array of other countries were already waiting. Wanting to get some introductions out of the way, he approached a young man he didn't recognize with messy dark brown hair,

" _Afsakið mig_ , Which nation are you? I do not recognize you," the main turned around from his conversation with another man with lighter, curly hair and smiled,

"G'day, mate! M'names Australia, nice to meet ya! Ya must be one of the new ones, yeah?" Iceland nodded,

" _Já_ , I'm I-"

"So which one are ya? Afghanistan? Iceland? Sweden? Or are you Thailand?" Before Iceland could reply Australia spoke up again, "Nah, you can't be Thailand, I'm confident Thailand's a Girl. Hmmm... something's tellin' me you're not Afghanistan either, so that means you're either Sweden or Iceland, yeah?" Iceland gulped. Sweden was a scary man, no matter how much Finland, otherwise known as Tino, tried to convince everyone else otherwise. He'd actually completely forgotten that Sweden was joining alongside him, "so, which is it, mate? Sweden or Iceland?"

"I am Iceland," Australia smiled,

"Awesome! It's nice to meet you, Iceland! Welcome to the UN!" He greeted, and Iceland nodded, "go on, introduce yourself to the others who are here, I wanna get back to Kiwi," he turned back to the man he was talking with before hand. Iceland looked around the room and his eyes caught a lightly tanned man with messy, red-brown hair wearing a small, white mask. Well that got his interest piqued. He decided that that'd be the next nation he would introduce himself to. He walked up to the man and tapped on his shoulder to get his attention,

" _Afsakið mig_ , I'd like to introduce myself to you, if that's alright," he spoke, trying his best to sound formal and professional. The man lifted his head from his hands that he was resting on, and Iceland what he'd as a smile grew on his face,

"Heeey, little buddy! You're one o' the new guys! Name's Turkey!" Turkey held out his hand and violently shook Iceland's hand when he grabbed it,

"N-Nice to meet you, Turkey. I'm Iceland," Turkey nodded aggressively,

"Iceland!" He echoed, "D'you have a lotta Ic- GREECE!" Turkey interrupted himself to yell at another nation who had just entered the room. That nation, he recognized as being Greece and He heard the older nation let out a quiet groan as Turkey called out his name. In an instant, Turkey was by Greece's side, chatting away at a thousand words a minute. Iceland sighed and began to scan the room of mostly unfamiliar faces. He recognized a few.

Poland was chatting with another young man and an even younger looking woman. The young man was relatively short if Iceland was seeing correctly and had short, brown hair. The woman had short, Blonde hair that went to her chin and she had a certain kind of grumpy aura to her.

England was conversing with another tanned man he didn't recognize. The man had dark brown hair that was neatly swept to the sides to reveal a red dot on his forehead that Iceland found strange. He ignored it and continued scanning the room.

America was talking with a tanned woman with long, wavy dark brown hair in a white and red dress and a tanned man with messy Dark brown hair in a green suit.

He then noticed Denmark, known to him as Mikkel, who was bothering Lukas, though that was nothing new.

When the last person entered, a stern looking blond man with his hair sticking up, he took a seat next to Lukas and Mikkel and the meeting began.

When the meeting ended Iceland felt relieved. He was glad to meet the fifty founding members and to get to know the new members that joined with him, minutes Sweden since he already new the scary looking man, but it was tiring. As people began to filter out of the room after the long meeting, Iceland stretched and scanned the room. Not many people were left and The remaining people were just packing their bags or picking up garbage so he decided he would be going now.

A few years later, in 1955, Tino Joined, making it so all the Nordics were in the UN. Since 1946 when Iceland joined, he gotten a chance to meet various other countries as they joined. When Indonesia joined in 1950 she'd introduced herself to him, but besides that they didn't really talk. Later, in 1965 Indonesia didn't show up as her president had withdrawn. The decision didn't last very long because the year after she returned and joined back into the UN. America had been over dramatic in welcoming her back, and Venezuela, along with Philippines, Thailand and Japan had been glad to see her return as well.

Some more time passed, and the 1990s came around, and with the 1990s, Yugoslavia split. He never paid much attention to Yugoslavia, but from what he heard from Estonia, it had been extremely painful for him to split. After Yugoslavia split he didn't live for much longer and was dissolved, resulting in his death and being replaced by smaller nations that took his land. While Yugoslavia was being split from 1990-1992, Iceland acknowledged Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia as their own independent nations when the USSR also broke up, which earned him respect from the other nations. He was also the first to recognized Croatia as his own independent nation in 1991.

2005 was when Iceland first noticed Canada. He'd heard the name in passing before, but never paid it much mind like how he often ignored anything to do with the Americas. The UN meeting had been chaotic to say the least. Netherlands and Canada were sitting together, with Canada leaning on the other nation's shoulder as Netherlands buried his face into his scarf. America was yelling above the everyone else as he ranted about Canada's recklessness in legalizing gay marriage.

_Ah. That's why everyone is focusing on Canada... Canada? Just Who's Canada again?_

Iceland felt bad that he couldn't remember anything about Canada. Sure, he recognized the name and could associate the face with the name unlike others, but he really knew nothing about him.

When the meeting ended, he decided he wanted to learn more about Canada, so he approached Ukraine, someone he knew to be close to Canada. As he walked up to her, he began to have second thoughts but shook his head, not wanting to wimp out. He was curious, and he'd feel awkward asking Canada about himself,

" _Úkraína?_ " Ukraine looked up from what she was reading and smiled,

" _так?_ " Iceland took a deep breath in,

"Could you tell me about _Kanada?_ " Ukraine tilted her head and let out a quiet giggle,

"You are curious about him after what he and his government have done, _так?_ " Iceland nodded, "Well, he's very kind and alway calm... well, maybe not always, he does get heated when it comes to hockey, but he means well. Matvey is probably the one of nicest people I've ever met,"

"Matvey?"

"Matvey is what I call _Kanada_. Matthew is his human name and it's what he prefers, so I use the Ukrainian version of Matthew to refer to him, which is Matvey," she explained with a smile. Iceland nodded,

"Well, thank you for the information, _Úkraína_ ," Ukraine smiled,

"Of course, _Islandiya_ , anytime," Iceland dipped his head and walked away, waving to Ukraine. Canada had already left if his eyes weren't deceiving him. Wait, no, Canada was still in the room, conversing with Cuba. He decided to leave the two to talk and left the UN building to meet back up with the other Nordics.

* * *

a few more years passed, and 2008 rolled around. Iceland had trouble feeling like himself with the protests picking up. He grew tired no matter how much he slept at night, and he felt sick on especially bad days when the crowds got extra rowdy. He tried his best to stay away from the other Nordics, not wanting to be be around anyone. Doing that was hard, however, since he was supposed to be attending an Arctic Council meeting. It would be starting in a few minutes, and he was still waiting outside the door, too nervous to enter. He knew he would the last one to enter the meeting for he watched when Sweden and Tino entered together, followed by Russia, Lukas, Mikkel and America. Oh, and Canada. Canada had entered at the same time as America, likely listening to his brother's rants reluctantly. He took a deep breath in and reached for the door handle only for the door to open before he could and Canada stepped out. He never properly interacted with the larger nation, so to finally be directly face to face with him, Well, Iceland had to admit that the man was strangely familiar now that he was closer to him. In a weird way, Canada felt like home,

"Um, Iceland, we're waiting for you to, Uh, join us," He put his head to his hands and sighed,

"I'm just having trouble feeling like myself... the protests on my land are getting big, and-and... I just Don't know what to do..." Canada lowered himself to be on eye level with Iceland and placed his hands on Iceland's shoulders,

"Hey, Iceland, If it makes you feel any better, there have been multiple Protests and even Riots on my land. Be glad that it's not a Riot, those... well, I'm sure you're aware how those are for us Nations," Iceland nodded,

"I know, it's just... Ugh, I'm not used to Protests," Canada gave him a gentle smile,

"Be glad that's the case. Being used to them isn't the best thing, I would know..." Canada shuddered, presumably at a sensitive memory that resurfaced, "you may be older, but you've got a younger body due to your population and land mass, but I've had more experiences with Protests... and riots, I guess." Iceland never thought about that. Canada was right, he was in fact older, and yet he wouldn't deny someone if the assumed the opposite. He felt younger then Canada, and yet he didn't at the same time, " _ça ira_ ," Canada speeding up snapped him out of his thoughts,

" _Sah_ _Era?_ " Iceland repeated. Canada chuckled and shook his head,

" _Ça. Ira. Ça Ira._ It means it'll be alright," he smiled and stood up straight, "come, there's a meeting we have to attend. America's started yelling at Russia, and if I Don't step in soon there'll be fight, so let's get going, eh?" Iceland nodded and followed Canada into the board room where Russia was smiling creepily as America threw insults his way.

When the meeting ended Iceland had planned on approaching Canada to ask him if he knew why he felt like home to him, but before the meeting even ended, Canada had excused himself early, saying he had to return home due to his elections happening on his land. All the other nations in the Arctic council dismissed him, as they all understood how Canada had been feeling with the election cycle. Elections were always a bit of a weird time for nations, that was something they all knew, so everyone allowed Canada to leave. Iceland was disappointed to say the least since he wanted to learn more about Canada, so instead, when the meeting ended he went up to America,

" _Ameríku_ , Can you tell me about _Kanada?_ " America spun on his heels to turn and face Iceland,

"Yo, dude, Who's Canada?" Iceland sighed,

"Your brother?" Americas face lit up and he grinned,

"Right! My brother! Mattie! What'd you wanna know, dude?" Iceland groaned at America's ignorance,

"This is a bit weird, but he feels like home. Do you know why?" America raised an eyebrow,

"What? No, I- what? Why would I know- What?" He sputtered, clearly confused,

" _allt wí lagi,_ Is there anything you can tell me about him that could help me figure out why?" America went silent for a few moments as he thought,

"He really likes maple syrup and moose, and he's usually calm and quiet... he's scary when he gets truly angry..." America shuddered, "word of advice, Don't anger him. He may be weaker than I am due to how low his population his, but he's the second largest country which means he's still quite strong," Iceland nodded,

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," America sucked in a breath and looked to Iceland, nervous,

"How much do you know about American or Canadian history?"

"Not a lot," America sighed, almost like he was disappointed, and began to explain,

"While me and him are on good terms now, back when we were still colonies our relationship was a bit more strained," he paused for a second to glance around the room, "when I was fighting for my independence, Mattie took Iggy's side so I had to not only fight Iggy, my former caretaker, but I was forced to fight my brother. Later, when, um... when... Ugh, I hate talking about this... uh, when, uh... When Manifest Destiny started... do you know what that was?" Iceland simply shook his head, not wanting to speak, "okay, well, it, uh, was when me and my people tried to Annex Canada... quite forcibly..." America gulped, "my people, they, um, they burnt down York, which was his Capital at the time," Iceland winced at that, "the next year, He and his troops invaded Washington, my capital, and burnt it down, along with the White House, which was called the Presidential Mansion at the time... it took years for us to reconcile, but look at us now! Happy brothers!" Americas mood suddenly brightened and he smiled at Iceland, "Anyways, gotta go, I have a meeting with Mexico in a bit, bye!" And America was gone, quickly running away and Leaving Iceland confused.

* * *

A few years passed and 2010 rolled around. January came and went and soon the inevitable hype for the Winter Olympics grew as the days got closer to the twelfth of February. While Iceland had four competitors, and while he wanted to support them, he just had trouble believing they could get even a bronze medal when countries like America were sending over 200 competitors. Still, he was going to go to Vancouver and watch some of the events like most nations were doing. He was staying in Olympic village in an apartment complex reserved for all Nations to stay in. He was in the same floor as the other Nordics plus Greenland, which meant he would have trouble sleeping at night. Either Mikkel would get drunk and yell, keeping him awake, or he would overhear France and England above him, shouting at each other as they ended up next to each other. Gods, this would be a long few weeks.

A few days later and the opening ceremony happened. Canada had outdid himself with all the lights and music and the large amount of Aboriginal influence that was included surprised Iceland. When it ended and the countries started to walk in, Iceland watched from the stands next to Lukas, Mikkel, Tino, Sweden and Greenland, was who was there mostly against their will. He waiting for the countries to be called and watched as a small group of seven Greek athletes entered, waving their flag. Followed behind them was a solo athlete from Albania then another solo athlete from Algeria. Some other small groups followed then Iceland heard them announce Australia, with forty athletes. Men and women in thick, white coats entered, waving to the crowds and smiling. Iceland paid little attention to the people until Mikkel tapped on his shoulder and pointed to one specific athlete,

"Icey, Isn't that Australia himself?" Iceland let out a huff,

"Mikkel, stop calling me Icey. And I probably couldn't tell if someone was Australia, I met him once in 1946, but tha- _Fokk_ , that really is him, isn't it?" Iceland squinted at the relatively small crowd of forty men and women, only to see that Australia was, in fact, among the athletes and coaches. It wasn't unheard of for Nations to walk among their athletes in the olympics, but he was surprised to see Australia with his own.

He shrugged it off and watched as eighty-one Austrians entered, cheering and waving their flag proudly.

The next big crowd to enter was the people from Belarus with fifty-one people.

Many other countries walked on with pretty meager groups, but then China was announced and it was like the floodgates were suddenly opened. The previous seven countries that came between Belarus and China had numbers ranging from Cayman Islands with one Athlete and Bulgaria with nineteen. Chinese athletes however entered with ninety athletes and they were all cheering and waving to the crowds as their flag bearer waved their flag proudly.

Czech Republic was the next big group to come in, with ninety-two athletes, and they seemed to be having as much fun as everyone else was as they waved and smiled to the audience.

Then Denmark was announced, and Iceland instantly heard Mikkel, who was sitting next to him begin to holler and yell for his people. Iceland had to cover his ears as Mikkel continued to cheer for the Danish men and women and he only quieted down when Estonia was called to enter next, with thirty people.

A single Ethiopian athlete then came in, followed by Finland. Tino, while definitely being quieter then Mikkel was, still cheered loudly for his people as they waved to the crowds.

France was next, with a hundred-eight people trailing behind the flag bearer.

Georgia came in which received a large round of applause from all around the stadium to honour the Georgian athlete that had perished during training a few days prior.

The Germans then entered with a hundred-fifty-three followed by a singular person representing Ghana.

People from Great Britain were the next to come on stage, with A solo person from Hong Kong not too far behind.

The next large crowd came in the form of a hundred-nine Italians cheering for each other as they came onto the stage, all proudly waving their Red-White-Green flags.

One person from Jamaica came next, Followed by a group of ninety-four Japanese athletes.

Thirty-eight Kazakhstani came next, followed by two Koreans from North Korea and forty-six from South Korea.

A duet from Kyrgyzstan was next, then fifty-nine from Latvia.

Eleven countries came and went with small numbers, then the Dutch came in, with thirty-four people, all smiling and waving to the people in the stadium.

New Zealand came and went with sixteen athletes then Norway was called. Iceland glanced over to look at Lukas who was simply smiling as he watched ninety-nine of his own walk on.

Poland was later called and on marched fifty Polish men and women, followed by a lone Portuguese and twenty-none Romanians.

After the Romanians were gone, a hundred-seventy-seven Russians walked on, and Iceland instantly spotted Russia himself among his people, smiling and waving to the people who cheered. Russia's appearance was noticed by all the nations he was surrounded by but it was silently agreed not to mention it.

San Marino and Senegal came and went, both having one athlete then then ten Serbians entered, with seventy-three athletes from Slovakia not far behind. Fifty more athletes from Slovenia stuck nearby as well as they came on and waved to the audience.

South Africa and Spain came and went, with two and eighteen people to call their own respectively.

Sweden was called next, and to no ones surprised, the man himself stayed emotionless with a blank stare, despite the hundred-six Swedes below them waving to the stands.

A hundred-forty-six Swiss were next to enter, who, just like everyone else, was cheering for themselves and waving to the audience.

Four more countries with low numbers came and went, then, The United stars of America was announced.

Two-hundred-sixteen Americans came walking into the stadium, all yelling and jumping up and down, waving to each other and the crowds in the stands. After the two-hundred-sixty Americans had filed out, a mere three athletes from Uzbekistan entered.

The low numbers didn't last very long because the next country to enter was Canada, the Host country. Two-Hundred-six men and women, all dressed in a combination of either Red and White or Red, White and Black came in and the crowd went wild. People around them cheered as the Canadians below smiled and waved proudly. Some of them were jumping up and down, some were running on the spot as they slowly advanced with the rest of the Canadians, and many were bowing to the stands or shouting. Then he spotted Canada himself near the front, wearing what appeared to be a thick, red sweater and a black, white and red hat. He had red and white mitts like many of the other Canadian athletes and He seemed to be conversing with the Canadian flag bearer, Clara Hughes. The crowd continued yelling until the Canadians were gone from the stadium, which ended the parade of the countries.

The rest of the day took a lot of energy out of Iceland and the second the ceremony ended, he got a limo to Olympic village and he flopped onto his bed, passing out almost instantly.  
  


On the twenty-first, he decided to visit the area and watch the Women's 1500 metre speed skating. Being a nation, he had access to a VIP. The guards had given him a weird stare when he handed over his ID, obviously not understanding why someone who looked so young had access to the highest class of VIP. He looked up from the ID and up to Iceland, a slight scowl on his face,

"It checks out, t'ough Aye Don't see 'ow someone yer age is such high clearance," he stepped aside and unlocked the door, letting Iceland in as he handed back the ID to him. When Iceland entered, he noticed Netherlands was also in the room, smoking his pipe as he waited for the games to begin,

" _Halló Hollandi_ ," Netherlands turned around to face Iceland,

" _hallo IJsland_ ," He greeted, "this is not an event that one of yours is in, _Ja?_ Why have you decided to watch this event?" Iceland shrugged,

"There is not much else to do. The other Nordics dragged me with them but I only have four athletes, all in the same event," Netherlands nodded as he puffed out smoke in the opposite direction, and turned back to watching the people setting up the arena,

"I suppose that makes sense, I didn't think of that..." Iceland stayed quiet and watched as athletes were called on and people began to quiet down as the event started.

It was quick event, and when a Dutch woman had crossed the line first, Followed by a Canadian Woman and a women from the Czech Republic, Iceland caught a glimpse of Netherlands smiling out of the corner of his eye, " _hoe leuk, een van mijn eigen en een van mijn kleine snoepjes kwam als eerste en als tweede..._ " Netherlands muttered under his breath as the medals were being handed out, "Too bad Matthew couldn't be here to watch this," He spoke up, turning to Iceland, "Uh, Canada, that is. Canada would’ve loved to watch this," Iceland looked up to Netherlands,

"You call him by his human name?" Netherlands nodded and put his pipe away, pulling his scarf up, covering his lower face,

" _Ja_ , he's, uh... very close to me, so we both use our human names," Iceland slowly nodded,

"How'd you two meet then? Your lands are quite far apart," Netherlands gulped,

"World War Two, he and his people liberated me and my people when we were occupied by Nazi Germany..."

"Oh... I, uh-"

"As terrible as the situation was, meeting each other was.. a huge high point for both of us. We have very close relations, both as countries and as our own person," Iceland nodded, taking in the information. He guessed that it made sense for two countries to be so close after one saved another, "we've... known each other since around 1990, but we initially met in 1945, before either of us knew we were both Nations. I thought he was just a Canadian General, but I saw him in 1990 at a Tulip festival on his land. I was beyond surprised when I spotted him, not having aged a day since '45. He was equally as surprised as well, and that's when we finally got to know each other... I'm honestly surprised we never met before hand with our government officials," Netherlands lightly chuckled and grinned slightly, "He... He's a very brave, and powerful man," Netherlands' eyes widened as he looked looked to Iceland,

"Sorry, I, uh... The event's done, I'll get going, _tot ziens IJsland_ ," He stood up from where his seat was and waved goodbye to Iceland.  
  


A few more days passed, and he found them to somewhat drag on. Both Lukas and Sweden celebrated as their people won multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Some who didn't know either of the nations would assume that that meant partying and drinking, however Lukas and Sweden were stoic and quiet men, so there was little noise to be heard from their apartments, which Iceland was admittedly thankful for since there'd been loud celebrating from the floor above from America, France, Australia and England whenever their people won. Strangely enough, he never heard Canada celebrate, though that could've been due to the fact he was a quiet nation, similar to Sweden or Lukas.

Or that was what he thought. The day the Canadian women's Hockey team won gold, Canada and America had entered the building, and Canada he familiarity of being near him began to rise almost like a sixth sense a nation had when around their own citizens. Canada was arguing and yelling with each other as France and England tried to break them up. To Iceland's surprise, Canada was the one most dominant in the yelling, occasionally taking sips from a bottle of what Iceland assumed to be beer. France kept yelling at Canada in French, which earned what Iceland could only assume to be swears based off France's face and reaction to the words. England meanwhile was attempting to take the beer from Canada, only for him to swat his arm away whenever he tried and shout in his face. Iceland watched as Canada cheered and celebrated, walking up the stairs as America continued to argue with him. Soon enough, They split off into their own apartments and the noise died down, allowing Iceland to continue waiting in the lobby for Lukas and Mikkel to return from watching another event.

After the closing ceremony, Iceland decided to finally confront Canada. Once the ceremony ended, he walked up to the blond man, and tapped on his shoulder, gaining his attention. He quickly mulled over everything he knew about Canada.  
  


Ukraine told him of man who was kind and quiet, yet passionate for Hockey.

America told a tale of a man who was quiet, yet could be violent and was strong.

Netherlands told about a man of great bravery that helped others,  
  


" _Oui?_ Oh, Iceland, _Bonjour_ , hello, what is it?" Canada smiled to Iceland when he turned around to see the shorter man, and once again, he suddenly felt like he was home, back on his land across the ocean,

"I, uh... I apologize if this is a strange question, but how much of your population is... Icelandic?" Canada tilted his head, and thought for a moment,

"Hmm... I'd say..." He paused, "Point Three percent? That's about one-hundred-thousand?"

" _Ég skil_... That's... Unexpected..."

"W-why's that?" Iceland sighed,

"Whenever I'm around you, well, you, uh- you feel like home, like my land and my people," Canada simply shrugged, "I thought your Icelandic population would've explained the familiarity I felt, but one-hundred-thousand isn't too much, is it? I mean, you're quite a big nation, and you said yourself that that's only point three percent of your population," Canada nodded, then looked to Iceland,

"I do not get the same feeling as you do, but perhaps we could take into consideration the population of your people in other countries, eh?" Iceland never thought about that. Now that he actually thought about it, he had a pretty low population, so to expect another country to have a lot of Icelandic people was shooting to far. His population didn't even reach the millions, what was he thinking?

"Iceland? Did you hear me?" He looked to Canada,

" _Nei_ , what did you say?" Canada gave him a smile,

"I said that I have to leave, My Prime Minister, he wants me to see him as soon as possible, sorry," Iceland shook his head,

" _Nei_ , it's okay, I don't mind. You need to meet your Prime Minister, he's your boss,"

" _Tiguidou, Merci,_ I'll be off then, goodbye, Iceland," he waved as he filtered into the crowd that was still making its way outside and soon Iceland could no longer spot him.

He assumed that the answer, and hardly gave Canada much thought after that, only really noticing him when he was nearby and felt the familiarity feeling rise in him.

* * *

**Translations:**

**_Icelandic_ ** _Afsakið mig- Excuse me_

_**Icelandic** Já- Yes_

_**Icelandic** _ _Úkraína- Ukraine_

_**Ukrainian** так- Yes_

_**Icelandic/Ukrainian** Kanada- Canada_

**Ukrainian _Islandiya- Iceland_**

**_French_ ** _ça ira- It’ll be alright_

_**Icelandic** Ameríku- America_

**_Icelandic_ ** _allt wí lagi- Alright_

_**Icelandic** Fokk- Icelandic swear that borrows from English’s “Fuck” swear._

_**Icelandic** Halló- Hello_

_**Icelandic** Hollandi- Netherlands_

_**Dutch** Hallo- Hello_

_**Dutch** IJsland- Iceland_

_**Dutch** Ja- Yes_

_**Dutch** hoe leuk, een van mijn eigen en een van mijn kleine snoepjes kwam als eerste en als tweede- How nice, one of my own and one of my little candy’s came first and second_

_**Dutch** tot ziens IJsland- Goodbye Iceland_

_**French** Oui- Yes_

_**French** Bonjour- Hello_

_**Icelandic** _ _Ég skil- I see_

_**Icelandic** Nei- No_

_**Québécois** **French** Tiguidou- _ _a Québécois French exclaimation. Has no actual translation and is used like how you would say "Great!" In response to something_

_**French** Merci- Thank you_


	6. Je ne parle pas Francais(Gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> History is a bitch, huh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this started off as a song fic for the song “Je ne parle pas Francias(I do not speak French)” by Namika, more specifically the Duet with Black M, but I saw the chance to write Angst and I took it so it’s really only the first half based off the song. Anyway, check out the song! I really like it, especially the Black M part, but then again I have a bit of a nostalgia bias for Black M cuz I listened to his music when I was younger. Okay, well, that’s enough of that, sorry, Enjoy the Fic!

Germany was admittedly lost. He was touring the Champs-Élysées, taking in the French architecture and generally just enjoying himself, but he failed to keep track of where he was. He had no idea where he was and he had no understanding of French. He hardly knew any English, so he couldn't even converse with someone in English either if they happened to know it so his only hope was finding someone who knew German. He breathed out a sighed as he scanned the surrounding buildings, his hopes low in finding a German speaker. He continued to scan the buildings, trying to find any clues that could help him find his whereabouts. He wanted to approach someone for help but he didn't want to disturb anyone, so he stayed quiet as he searched for clues that could help him. With a sigh, he sat down on a nearby bench, and quickly combed his hands through his hair, exasperated from all the walking he did. He leaned back and let out a breath as he relaxed and closed his eyes, letting himself rest. The day was beginning to end, and he was needing to get back to his hotel soon. He was about to stand back up when a masculine voice sounded from next to him, speaking French,

_"salût, qu'est-ce que vous cherchez?"_ Germany nearly jumped, and looked up to meet eyes with a tall blonde man, in a dark blue formal shirt. He had dark blue eyes and an admittedly charming smile. Germany returned the man's smile and was about to speak when he remembered that this man was speaking French and he knew next to nothing about France o it's language. Hell, he didn't even know what gender the personification was!

_"Pardon, es tut mir leid, ich kann dich leider nicht verstehen,"_ he answered, not taking a moment to think how the Frenchman likely did not understand him. To Germany's surprise, the man continued to talk in French, and yet he did nothing to stop the man from speaking to him. The way the words rolled off this man's tongue was different in some way to how the other locals spoke. It didn't exactly sound like the local dialect, yet, it did at the same time in a strange way. The man kept on blabbing on in French, but suddenly stopped to look to Germany,

_"quel est votre nom?"_ Germany has no idea what that meant. Nom sounded similar to the English word for Name, so perhaps that was a connection? He hastily put it together and nodded,

"Ludwig," Germany answered, hoping he was correct in his assumption. The man gave him a smile,

_"Je suis la Fran- Francis. Je suis Francis,"_ the other answered. Germany still had no idea what was said, but the word _'Francis'_ sounded like a name, so he assumed that that was his name. Francis held out his hand for Germany, which he took, and Germany was pulled out from his sitting position on the bench, _"Allez viens, toi et moi on va se balader!"_ Francis dragged Germany away with a smile, saying some words in French that he failed to understand. Francis continued to drag Germany around, seemingly giving him a tour when it was clear neither of them understood each other. Every once in awhile Francis would say something that sounded like a question, to which Germany would simply shrug, not understanding what he was asked, earning a joyful laugh from Francis nearly every time.

The sun was starting to set when Francis stopped in his tracks and looked back to Germany, a large grin on his face,

_"Je ne parle pas allemand, mais comme toi, je peux sentir des gens d'un pays,"_ Francis pauses to look to Germany, _"Je sais ce que tu es, chère Nation d'Allemagne..._ We will meet later, when you 'ave 'opefully grown into a bigger and better country," he finished in what Germany assumed to be English, and left, leaving Germany confused.

Hold on, Francis had said something about a Nation. He shook his head, ignoring that thought. There was no way that Francis was a nation like him, right?

* * *

The Great War has already been a disaster, but now that there was another one, Germany was tired. He was still young by nation standards, and he wasn't even half his brother's age. His age, however, did not excuse him from fighting and serving _the Fuhrer,_ which was something he did without much thought. It was his job. The man was his leader, and so he had to follow his orders, which was exactly what he was doing. He was fighting. He was Invading. Invading Poland. Then Denmark. Then Norway. He did what he was told without much questioning. What he was doing was for the good of his people and himself, right? He had to fight, it was his orders and he couldn't simply disobey, could he? So he followed his orders, perhaps somewhat reluctantly at first though.

He had to invade. It was for his survival. The more land the better because More land meant everything. And so he found himself fighting alongside his own people as they Invaded Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg next. He was always specifically sent by _the Fuhrer_ to assist in the Invasions. The man believed that Germany brought good luck and great fortune on the battlefield, and who was he to refuse an order from his boss? The next country he was ordered to lead an invasion into was France. At that point, he was just a mindless puppet being controlled by his boss's insane influence on him. He hardly acted like himself anymore, his thoughts of war controlling his mind. He never questioned orders anymore like he did at the beginning of the war, and was even glad on some occasions to lead an attack unlike before in the beginning when he preferred to be just another foot soldier.

His newfound attitude was what lead him to be chosen to help lead yet another invasion, this time into France. His older brother, Prussia, otherwise known to him and the soldiers as Gilbert, was to fight with him, alongside all the others being sent to fight.

He followed the battle plan perfectly alongside Gilbert, Both he and Gilbert lead the attack, and successfully pushed back the French army.

When the French had retreated, and the ground was littered with dead men, Germany let out a sigh and turned to Gilbert,

**"We must push on,"** Gilbert nodded and gave him a small smile as he called for his own troop to follow him. Germany ordered for his own to follow Gilbert so he could check for survivors. A few soldiers remained to help him and the rest followed Gilbert. Some of the men where nearly impossible to identify, with their dog tags being the only hope of figuring out who the body was. Some of them had even lost their dog tags which would make it even harder to identify them, but that didn't matter to Germany. He just had to find survivors and kill the French that were still alive and help the Germans that were still alive. As he was checking the various bodies, he noticed shuffling out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned to meet the person who was moving, only to be face to face with France himself. Germany gulped and held his breath as he watched France's face reddened and his brows furrow at the Sight of Germany,

" _Allemagne, imbécile!_ You could've been so much better! Why must you listen to ze evil man you call your boss?! Do you not realize all ze villainy 'e 'as done to your own people?! It is 'orrendous! I understand ze influence that must be upon you, but surely you can see zat zis is so wrong for so many reasons?!" France's eyes were tearing up and he soon he was crying, which turned into messy sniffling. Germany simply watched as France broke down in front of him,

"I do vhat he says. It is zat simple. I vill fight for myself und mein people," he spoke flatly, which furthered France's sobbing,

" _NON!_ ZAT ISN'T 'OW ZIS SHOULD PLAY OUT! YOU NEE-"

**_BANG! BANG BANG!_**

France's body went limp as three gunshots sounded from behind him. Germany turned to see a German soldier behind him, looking at him with a disappointed expression,

**"Speaking English is dangerous. Don't make a habit of it, General, sir,"** Germany nodded, and made a quick glance back to France's body. The bleeding was already slowing down. He had to get this soldier away from France lest he notice the rapid healing and eventual _'revival'_ of the other blond man.

That night he thought back to France. The first time they met when he thought that the man was just that. A man. Another simple human. Oh, how wrong was he. He still remembered that day when he entered the world meeting hall with Gilbert for the first time and spotted the man he knew as Francis, only to have Gilbert quickly run up to the man and give him a hug. Germany had never been so confused. Gilbert then introduced him to Francis, this time by the name of France.

Then he thought to what France had said to him earlier. When they met on the battlefield, As he invaded France's land and killed so many of his soldiers. His people. He began to genuinely think of the effect that France would be undergoing. The pain both Denmark and Norway must be feeling now that they were invaded, and the immense suffering that Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands must be feeling since they were occupied,

**"Sir, General field Marshall Von Leeb sent me to congratulate you on your loyalty, sir. You have been nothing but a great soldier,"** Germany nodded, and gave a slight smile,

**"Thank you, soldier,"** Loyalty. That was right. He had to stay loyal. He was going to be loyal. He had to be loyal.

* * *

When the war was finally lost, Both Germany and his brother were suddenly overwhelmed by too many emotions and realizations. So much came to him and Gilbert when Russia announced _the_ _Fuhrer's_ death and the eventual surrender by the country Japan and country of Germany. Everything came at them. The deaths, their ignorance, the effect of the war, their crimes and so much more rushed to them. Russia had been the one to walk in on Germany breaking down, followed by the rest of the Allies and Italy. Italy had quickly run up to him to comfort him, which hardly helped. Italy's betrayal still stung and now that he was finally able to think straight after almost five years of war, he couldn't bear to show his face to a man he admittedly loved after he realized everything he had done. Despite him trying to refuse Italy's comfort, he couldn't do much to push him off him as he was given a big hug from him. Soon the rest of the Allies entered, America coming in last just behind China. England was the most pissed looking next to France who had a disappointed look on his face. China stood next to Russia, glancing between Him and Gilbert while Russia simply smiled creepily. Oh yeah, and Canada. Canada was there as well, standing next to America nervously eyeing him and Gilbert. It was the first time he saw Canada outside of combat and he honestly could hardly tell it was the same man. The presence of everyone else didn't stop him from bawling his eyes out rabidly apologizing. He knew there was hardly anything to make up for everything he'd done,

" _B-Bitte,_ Do anyzing you s-see fit. I vill accept any p-punishment. I d-deserve I-It all..." he managed to cough out between tears. At that, Gilbert shot up from where he was sat,

" _N-NEIN!_ I refuse for Ludwig to t-take all ze blame! Vhatever ze punishment, I vill t-take it too!" Gilbert cried, whipping his tears away and pointing an accusatory finger to the Allies. England raised a large eyebrow and looked to Gilbert. France let out a huff and said something in French that Germany didn't understand. Canada piped up to add on, once again in French that Germany couldn't understand. That made him think back to when he first met France when he had been given a tour despite his lack of French knowledge.

_Gods, how he had fallen._

* * *

**Translations:**

**_French_ ** _salût, qu'est-ce que vous cherchez/ (Casual) Hello, what are you looking for_

**_German_ ** _Pardon, es tut mir leid, ich kann dich leider nicht verstehen/ Pardon me, I'm sorry, Unfortunately I dont understand_

_**French** _ _quel est votre nom/ what is your name_

**_French_ ** _Je suis la Fran- Francis. Je suis Francis/ I am (the) Fran- I am Francis_

_**French** _ _Allez viens, toi et moi on va se balader/ Come on, you and me, we'll walk_

_**French** _ _Je ne parle pas allemand, mais comme toi, je peux sentir des gens d'un pays/ I don't speak German, but like you, I feel my people_

**_French_ ** _J_ e _sais ce que tu es, chère Nation d'Allemagne/ I know what you are, dear Nation of Germany_

**_French_ ** _Allemagne, imbécile/ Germany, You Fool_

**_French_ ** _Non/ No_

**_German_ ** _Bitte/ Please_

**_German_ ** _Nein/ No_


	7. What have I done?(Gen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the two song inspired oneshots, but I’ve run out of Ideas so I’ve resorted to music.
> 
> Anyways, I’m currently writing a long oneshot based on yet another song. I planned for it to be around 5k words, but I went to 7k words, then 9k and now I’m at 12k and I have no idea how to finish it cuz I keep getting ideas.
> 
> Anyways 2: electric boogaloo, the song this is based off of is the song “What had I done?” By Meltycube, featuring the vocaloid Gumi! I absolutely love Vocaloid, and I’ve been a fan since around 2011, so expect most song inspired oneshots I do to be based off of Vocaloid songs! In fact, the big boi oneshot I’m working on is based off a vocaloid song, so if you want a kind of sneak peek, give the song “1AM” by QueenPb featuring MEIKA Mikoto and MEIKA Hime! That’s the song the big boi oneshot is based off of!
> 
> Okay, sorry for the massive fucking wall of text, and sorry this oneshot is so short. I found the song and I just had to write a oneshot for it, how could I not???
> 
> Aight, once again, sorry for all the text, here’s the oneshot!!

England was surprisingly invited to a party by Russia. He suspected that the only reason he was invited was because how how quick he got drunk and how he acted when drunk, but he didn’t care what the reason one. He was invited, and by gods, was he going to drink. The last few days had been stressful for him and he really needed a break from it all. The party was being held on Russia’s land, in one of his big cities at one of Russia’s houses on the final night of a world meeting conference. When the final day rolled around, England got ready for the party. As far as he knew, Russia, France, America, China, Japan, Germany, Prussia, Netherlands, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland were the ones going. He was sure that more would be there, but they were the only ones he knew would be at the party. 

When nine o’clock rolled around, he left his hotel room and ordered a Taxi to take him to the address. He had to take a moment to speak the Russian words and remember what to say, but as soon as he got them out, he was driven to the large house. As he got out and paid, the driver gave him a strange look but accepted the money then drove off. 

As he walked up to the front, he could hear some music sounding from inside, so he rang the doorbell a few times in hope that the music wasn’t as loud as it sounded. Russia opened the door a few seconds later with his signature creepy grin and let England in,

_“dobro pozhalovat', Angliya,”_ England nodded,

“Yes yes, thank you, now give me something to drink,”

“Oh, _Angliya,_ you really should wait for more to arrive,” England scoffed,

“Just get me some beer or whatever you people here drink,” Russia closed the door behind England and let out a quiet laugh,

“ _otlichno,_ there is beer in the fridge if that is what you want,” England nodded and left Russia behind to find the kitchen. he walked through the halls, occasionally spotting someone he recognized and giving them a wave. When he finally spotted the kitchen he made a bee-line for the fridge, however before he could open it all the way, another hand closed it,

“ _Angleterre,_ don’t you zink it’s still too early to drink?” England groaned at the sound of Francis’s voice and turned around to be faced with the man himself, 

“Oh, bugger off, it’s nearly ten, it’s not early at all,” Francis stifled a laugh,

“Mmmm, per’aps not, but you’re quite ze lightweight, non? Do you really want to get drunk so quickly?”

“Yes, the last few days haven’t been the best, it’s the whole reason I’m even here. I need a break, now let me get something,” Francis rolled his eyes and sighed,

_“Bien,”_ Francis reluctantly pushed off the fridge and walked off to chat with another party goer. 

* * *

The next time he was able to think straight, he wasn’t exactly sure where he was. He was wet, by gods, he was soaked, what had happened at the party and why was his memory so blank? He was a nation, he shouldn’t suffer heavily from hangovers, let alone memory loss. He rubbed his eyes, still quite drowsy and looked down to his lap where there was a reasonably heavy weight sitting on him, only to see that the weight on his lap was an entire Guitar amp,

“Gods, what have I done?” He mumbled under his breath, slowly lifting the guitar amp out of his lap and placing it on the ground next to the bathtub. He tried to get out of the tub only to slip and fall back down. He let out a harsh swear when he hit his head on the bathtub, “what have I done?” He repeated to himself as he got out of the tub, this time successfully. 

Somewhere in the same house, A phone rang. It rang once. It rang twice. No one was nearby to answer, and the owner of said phone was still half asleep after waking up in a bathtub with a guitar amp. The phone rang again, for the third time, and this time someone picked up. It wasn’t the owner however, or at least not the owner of the phone. It was Russia, the one who owned the house,

_“Privet? eto govorit Ivan,”_ the person on the other side of the phone spoke,

**“H-Hello, could you please hand the phone over to Arthur Kirkland?”**

“Oh, _Angliya?_ I’m afraid Arthur is not Available... he is...” Russia paused, “Offline,”

**“O-Offline? Sir, who are you?”** The lady on the other end said, with an obvious nervous tone to her voice. Russia smiled to himself at the thought that he was scaring this young British lady just by speaking,

“My name is Ivan Braginsky. I am...” He paused to think of what words to use for this person. They had England’s phone number, and she had asked for him by his human name, so she was likely with the government, “I am the Russian representative,” he heard the lady on the other end gasp,

Russia nodded out of habit despite the lady not being able to see him, 

_“Da,”_

**“I-I... okay, w-well, could you please pass the phone over, Mister Braginsky?”** Russia cringed at the mispronunciation of his human last name,

“ _Net,_ like I said, he is Offline,” 

**“Mister Braginsky, what does that mean?”**

“He is unavailable. You will call back later, _Da?_ ” 

**“S-Sure. Uh, could you at least notify him?”** Russia could hear the nervousness in her voice and it made him smile,

“ _Da,_ I will. Now goodbye,” he hung up before the lady could say anything else and placed the phone back down with a grin plastered on his face. 

Now he had an excuse to go check on England as he slept soaked in a bathtub, a guitar amp on his lap.


	8. 1AM(PruCan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave up writing accents just over half Way into the oneshot, so... Also, as mentioned in the previous oneshot, this is based off the song “1AM” by QueenPb featuring the vocaloids Meika Mikoto and Meika Hime. Much like the “Je ne pas parle Francis” oneshot, It started off kinda sort but I got an idea and ran with it. And then another. And another.

Gilbert was always an adventurer. He loved to travel and ever since he was young he had a wild spirit. He often got in trouble in elementary school because he would climb the nearby trees during recess or run off school grounds. His friends were low in numbers, as not many other students wanted to be friends with such an energetic and dangerous kid. He had two friends, Antonio and Ivan(Ivan was more of a bully, but they talked sometimes) in elementary school who he occasionally played with, but they had gone off to different high schools and no one at his high school had wanted to befriend him. His college roommate, a man by the name of Roderich, had a dislike of him, and they had a mutual agreement to not bother each other. He loved to explore his small town and find new things. His town was right next to a large, supposedly haunted forest, where dozens of people went missing annually. They were almost always young people with a sense of adventure who lost themselves to their own curiosity, but it was also a popular place to go when one wanted to die. For the longest time, Gilbert could remember people saying he was next person to succumb to the curiosity of the “Beast’s forest”. He had become somewhat of an anomaly in the small town, what with him being someone who liked to explore but not having gone to the forest, yet. That was the keyword. Yet. He was well aware of the danger of the Beast’s forest, but he wanted to know what made it so dangerous. Many people spoke of old tales of an evil beast and other monsters, hence the name Beast’s forest. He wasn’t a superstitious type of person, but it was hard to dismiss the amount of missing people who went missing in the very forest. The disappearances dated all the way back to the early 1800s, when the town was just starting to grow from a village to a town as the population picked up. Many speculated that with the increase of population and foreigners moving to the town at the time, monsters had followed, thus the Beast’s forest became inhabited by the supernatural for easy pickings. He supposed the explanation made sense, but he still had trouble believing in the supernatural. Surely there was a reasonable explanation? 

He had to investigate the Beast’s forest. 

He succumbed to his curiosity and began to pack his bag. It was around 9pm when he started. He grabbed his duffle bag and started pulling out some spare clothes from his drawer and then hygienic stuff from the bathroom, like his toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant and a facecloth. He then picked up his duffle bag and went into the main room, where the kitchen was and he quickly got to raiding the pantry, packing things like crackers, Raisins, Nuts, and various other snacks that he deemed enough. As he was attempting to stuff in his third water bottle into his bag, Roderich walked in, coming home from work,

“Gilbert, I don’t usually question you, but vhat are you doing vith all zat?” Gilbert stared blankly for a brief second before Roderich spoke again, “Gilbert? Vhere you going?”

“Uh, y’know... out,” Roderich raised an eyebrow,

“I von’t pry, but as much as I... dislike your company, I vould be a shame is you went missing because you decided to be stupid and enter ze Beast’s forest,” 

“V-Vhat?! Who said anyzing about going to ze Beast’s forest?!” Gilbert immediately defended himself. He couldn’t let anyone know where he was going,

“Oh please, it’s obvious vhere you’re going,” Roderich scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I von’t let you go die. As long as you are my roommate, you are not leaving to go into zat forest,” Gilbert let out a loud, exasperated huff and threw his duffle bag back into his room with a scowl,

“Fine, Have it your vay,” Roderich nodded,

“I may not like you zat much Gilbert, but I’ll not allow you to run to your own death,” Gilbert dismissed Roderich with a hand wave and went back to his room and flopped on the bed in silence. He would just have to go out when Roderich was asleep.

And so he stayed awake until 12pm when Roderich fell asleep. By 12:30, he was outside and walking to the forest, his duffle bag on his back. He held his phone in his hand, ready to call 911 if something were to happen. As he approached the beast’s forest, he noticed a house on the very outskirts. The porch light was on, and when Gilbert got closer, he spotted a young man with messy, blond hair sitting on a chair outside on the porch, staring into the forest. Once again caving into his curiosity, Gilbert approached the young man. He cleared his throat, gaining the man’s attention,

“You! What are you doing here?!” Now that Gilbert was able to see his face, he noticed that the man had quite large eyebrows and his eyes had very apparent bags under them, as if this man hadn’t slept in years,

“Uh, I’m going to go into ze beast’s forest,” the man’s eyes widened and a small smile grew on his face,

“You should be scared of what lies in the forest of Desires...” Gilbert shrugged,

“Well, you see, My Curiosity got ze best of me, so I’m going to explore,” the man shook his head violently,

“if you go there you’ll be eaten from inside and You won’t make it out alive... He is especially active at 1am, which is the time right now. You’ll be consumed by the beast of the night if you go in.” Gilbert gulped. His confidence was waning the more he listened to this man, “you call it the Beast’s Forest? You are incorrect. The beast as you call him, he calls it the Forest of Desires,” Gilbert tilted his head at the sudden subject change,

“The beast calls it ze forest of desires? What do you mean ze beast calls it ze forest of desires? Do you know ze beast?” The blond man nodded and leaned back in his chair, his bright green eyes staring into the darkness of the forest,

“Yes, I know the beast. He visits me sometimes and we chat,” 

“You chat with ze Beast? So it’s real? No, vait, vhat? Vhat are you saying?!” Gilbert shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts,

“He won’t be visiting me if you go into the forest. But you should beware the monster awaiting you...” the man finished ominously as he stood up from his chair and opened the sort to inside, turning off the porch light, “good luck surviving in the forest at 1am,” the door shut and Gilbert was left in the dark, alone. He shouldn’t have spoken to that man. Now he was nervous and even a bit scared. He took a deep breath in and out, preparing himself for what was to come.

He was in the forest for a mere ten minutes when he heard some rustling coming from the bushes surrounding him. He tried his best to dismiss it as night animals but he couldn’t help but think about the beast. Had the beast already found him? He hadn’t been in the forest for even thirty minutes. 

A few minutes later into his trek, he started to smell something absolutely horrid. He couldn’t quite place the smell and what it was, but it smelled like how he imagined rotting meat to smell like. He decided to follow the stench for five minutes to a large cave. He shined his phone’s light onto the entrance and spotted deep claw marks on the stone. At this point, the stink was overwhelming. It was all he could smell and though he was beginning to get used for it, it still smelt absolutely disgusting and He was afraid the stench would stick to his clothes with how strong it was. He continued inspecting the claw marks on the stone, thinking that something with quite strong claws had to have made them, considering how deep they were. A bear? No, there have been no recent bear sightings. A cougar? No, that didn’t sound right. Could it really be the beast? It would explain the rustling of bushes that followed him as he walked to the cave. Perhaps the cave was the beast’s home? He shined his phone light into the cave, expecting to see rotting bodies of the people who have gone missing over the years. He prepared himself to see something truly gruesome, but instead, there was red-stained rocks. Blood-stained rocks. Not even bones were on the ground. He went to take a step in, only to be suddenly and forcibly slammed against the cave wall before he could register what was happening. His back hurt from the force he was slammed on the wall with, and he winced at the sudden and unexpected pain, closing his eyes and breathing through his teeth. He could feel something breathing heavily down his neck, and a low growl rose from whatever had him pinned to the wall. He could feel the massive hand holding him down dig claws into his neck as he was held against the wall, and his breathing began to become laboured in the presence of the beast. He opened a single eye to see what had him against the wall, to be face to face with a strange, lanky, deer-person-thing. It was unbelievably tall, having to hunch over to be so close to Gilbert. He estimated it’s height to be around Seven feet, with the antlers extending that height to Seven feet and six inches. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he observed the beast. This was it. This was how he was going to die. Curiosity really did kill the cat,

“ ա ɦ օ ǟʀɛ ʏ օ ʊ, ǟ ռ ɖ  ա ɦʏ ɦǟʋɛ ʏ օ ʊ  ƈ օ ʍɛ ɦɛʀɛ?” Gilbert’s heart dropped at the sound of the beast’s voice. He hadn’t expected it to speak, but now that it had spoken, it had a strangely soft, yet raspy voice. The beast was so close, he could now deduce that the smell was not coming from the Cave, but the beast. He had been following the beast to the cave, not the smell from the cave. He gulped, and tried his best to answer, but when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out. He was frozen. He couldn’t bring himself to even move his arms, let alone speak,

“ ֆ ʊʀɛʟʏ ʏ օ ʊ  ֆքօ ӄɛ  ȶ օ ǟʀ ȶ ɦʊʀ?  ֆ ʊʀɛʟʏ ɦɛ  ա ǟʀ ռ ɛɖ ʏ օ ʊ ǟɮ օ ʊ ȶ ʍɛ?” The Beast repeated, narrowing it’s purple eyes. For a second Gilbert forgot the beast in front of him as he looked at those eyes. They looked so Human, despite their discolouration. Perhaps the beast used to be human? It would explain the somewhat human body it had. While its body was a far cry from that of a human, the basic outline of a human body was there. He was standing on two hind legs that resembled that of a goat or a horse. Gilbert guesses they were something more like a Deer’s hind legs due to the antlers. The beast’s torso was that of a human’s, but much thinner. The ribs were nearly poking out of the pale, rotting skin of the beast, and if Gilbert didn’t know any better, he’d say that one rib was actually protruding from the beast’s skin. His arms were similar to that of a human, with the length being the thing that set them apart from a person. They were extremely long, almost to the point that were close to touching the ground when laid down. They too, like the rest of the beast, were extremely thin. There was hardly any skin on it’s bones, and if Gilbert didn’t know any better, he’d say there wasn’t even any muscles, taking the term ‘being just skin and bones’ a bit too literally. Then there was the face. It’s face was Terrifying. It was that of a deer’s skull or some other creature like it. Pieces of rotten flesh littered it’s boney face and Light fur was scattered across the sides of its skull down its neck. It had an abundance of sharp, blood-stained teeth, and it’s tongue slightly lolled out of its mouth as it breathed down Gilbert’s next. It’s skull was cracked at certain parts, mainly around the antlers and the fur that was on the beast was disheveled and unkempt,

“ǟ ռֆա ɛʀ ʍɛ!!” Gilbert was snapped out of his thoughts by the beast snarling and pressing him harder against the wall, “ ա ɦ օ ǟʀɛ ʏ օ ʊ ǟ ռ ɖ  ա ɦʏ ǟʀɛ ʏ օ ʊ ɦɛʀɛ?!” The Beast claws began to scrape on his skin as it’s grip tightened around Gilbert’s neck,

“I-I-I’m G-Gilbert!” He managed to cough up in a panic. The beast nodded and withdrew its hand from keeping Gilbert restrained with a huff, 

“ ա ɦʏ ǟʀɛ ʏ օ ʊ ɦɛʀɛ?” The Beast was beginning to calm down, but Gilbert was still ready to run at a moments notice. That was, if he managed to break out of his frozen in fear state,

“I-I-I v-vas c-curious about ze-ze missing people a-and zis, uh, zis-zis forest,” he spoke nervously, trying his best not to break down in the beast’s presence,

“ʏօʊ ǟʀɛ ǟ ʄօօʟ ʄօʀ ƈօʍɨռɢ ɦɛʀɛ, ɮʊȶ ʏօʊ ɦǟʋɛ ɢօȶȶɛռ ʟʊƈӄʏ. ɨ ʀɛƈɛռȶʟʏ ǟȶɛ, ֆօ ɨ աɨʟʟ ռօȶɛǟȶ ʏօʊ. ʟɛǟʋɛ ȶɦɨֆ քʟǟƈɛ ɮɛʄօʀɛ ʏօʊʀ ֆƈɛռȶ ɛռȶɨƈɛֆ ʍɛ ɛʋɛռ ʍօʀɛ...” Gilbert nodded, finally gaining courage to take a few steps away and back into the forest, “ɖօ ռօȶ ֆքɛǟӄ ȶօ օȶɦɛʀֆ ǟɮօʊȶաɦǟȶ ʏօʊ’ʋɛ ɛӼքɛʀɨɛռƈɛɖ. ʀɛȶʊʀռ ɨʄ ʏօʊ աɨֆɦ, ɮʊȶ ʏօʊ ʍǟʏ ռօȶ ɮɛ ֆօ ʟʊƈӄʏ. ʏօʊʀ ֆƈɛռȶ... ȶʀʊʟʏ ɨֆ օռɛ օʄ ȶɦɛ ɮɛֆȶ, ɮʊȶ ɨ’ʍ ɢɨʋɨռɢ ʏօʊ ȶɦɨֆ աǟʀռɨռɢ. ɨ ǟʍ ɖɛƈɨɖɨռɢ ȶօ ɦǟʋɛ ʍɛʀƈʏ, ֆօʟɛǟʋɛ ɮɛʄօʀɛ ɨ ƈɦǟռɢɛ ʍʏ ʍɨռɖ,” the Beast growled, narrowing its almond eyes at Gilbert. Gilbert nodded and quickly dashed away, out of the Beast’s forest. He kept on sprinting, and didn’t stop until he was at the weird man’s house. He felt his lungs burning when he stopped and it took him a few minutes to recover from the running he just did. He panted heavily as he regained his composure and started his walk back to where he shared his flat with Roderich. 

He wasn’t going to get any sleep this night.

* * *

After that, Gilbert didn’t once ever think about returning to the forest. He knew of the beast in the forest now, he had met it himself, and it had terrified him. It stunk of rotting flesh, and it’s body itself was rotting with dried blood around its mouth. He shuddered at the mere thought of the beast despite a few months having passed since he saw it. The image of it still haunted him, and despite his newfound fear of the forest, he couldn’t help but want to return. It was strange, yet it also made sense in a weird way. He was intrigued by the beast, he wanted to learn more, but he didn’t want to be around it. It terrified him.

Then it hit him.The blond man on the outskirts of the Beast’s forest. He had spoken of speaking with the beast. That evening, after his class had ended, Gilbert packed a small backpack with water and snack and made his way to the forest, this time in waning daylight. As he approached the house, he felt his breathing pick up. He was beginning to get nervous and memories of that night were starting to resurface especially vividly as he approached the house. When he finally arrived, he drew in a deep breath and knocked on the door, and awaited for an answer. A minute passed and there was no answer, so he knocked again, and this time his knock was rewarded with an answer,

“Fra-” The man from before cut himself off as he looked at him for a brief moment before realization set in, “oh. It’s you. Why have you returned? Did Matthew not tell you to not come back?” Gilbert nodded, 

“M-Matthew?” The man nodded,

“Yes, that’s the name of who you call the beast. Matthew,” Gilbert stares at the man in confusion. Matthew? Really? That was the best the beast could come up with? He couldn’t have picked something cool like ‘Fang the Rib-Breaker’ or ‘Killgore the dark’? “And my name is Arthur, it’s nice to meet you, Gilbert,” Gilbert perked up at the mention of his name. He didn’t remember telling this guy his name when they met,

“I didn’t tell you my name,” Arthur smiled,

“Yes, but you told Matthew and Matthew told me,” 

“R-Right... Matthew, ze beast... C-Can you tell me about it?” Arthur scoffed,

“First off, stop calling him an ‘It’. Just because he isn’t human anymore doesn’t mean he’s suddenly an object,” Gilbert nodded,

“R-Right, so can you tell me about him?” Arthur stared at him for a quick moment before nodding,

“Very well, come on in and take a seat. I’ll put the kettle on for you,” Gilbert dipped his head and quietly thanked Arthur for letting him in. He was lead into the living room then left alone as Arthur went to prepare tea for him. 

Some minutes passed and the tea was done and Arthur came in to give him his cup, “now, where shall I begin?”

“You mentioned he used to be human?” Arthur took a sip of his tea and smiled,

“Ah yes, I assume you are unfamiliar with what Matthew is?” Gilbert nodded, “I shall explain what he is then.” Arthur paused to take another sip of his tea, “Matthew is a Wendigo. He was once human as I stated before. From what he has told me, he was a young man in the early 1800s who moved with his father to this town. It was just him and his Father, and they were pretty poor, so food and money was scarce. During their first winter here, Matthew and his Father grew hungry and desperate for food. Matthew refused to die of starvation so he did something horrible... he resorted to cannibalism, and killed his own father and ate him. That was the beginning of the transformation. A Wendigo spirit happened to be nearby and started to change him when it inhabited his body. He has told me that his eyes used to be blue, but they have turned purple over time and that his eyes changing was the first sign of change. He grew more and more hungry, and nothing could satiate his hunger. He craved more human flesh, so he killed a close friend and ate them. At that point, he was beginning to thin despite the amount of... food he was eating. His legs began to deform, his arms lengthened, he grew long claws, his face morphed and soon he became what he is now. A Wendigo,” Arthur finished, taking yet another long sip from his tea. Gilbert took all the information in. Matthew has been a poor man who resorted to killing and eating his own father to survive winter, “He fights his hunger exceptionally well compared to other Wendigos I have met. He has also managed to retain his humanity much better then others I have met,” Gilbert narrowed his eyes,

“You’ve met other Wendigos?” Arthur shrugged,

“I have a talent for... befriending the supernatural as you could say, so I’ve met many a creatures. To name them would be tedious, but I’m willing to tell you of other Wendigos I’ve met if you wish,” Gilbert shook his head,

“No zank you, I’m fine. Uh, zank you for telling me about Matthew, I should get going now,” he stood up and grabbed his bag. Arthur nodded his head and stood up, leading Gilbert out of the house, giving him a wave as he left, which Gilbert returned.

Now he was determined to learn more about The beast. About Matthew.

* * *

A month passed and Gilbert was ready to go into the Beast’s forest again. Into Matthew’s forest. He left at 12pm like last time when Roderich was asleep and set out towards the forest. Arthur was presumably asleep since he wasn’t on the porch like last time so Gilbert ignored the house and went to enter the forest. He walked for maybe ten or fifteen minutes until he began to smell rotting flesh. Matthew was nearby,

“H-Hello? M-Matthew? I-It’s Gilbert. I’ve come back...” he stuttered, trying his best to stay confident. A few seconds passed, and Matthew emerged from a nearby bush, with what Gilbert could only guess was an angry expression on his face. It was hard to tell, what with a skull being his head,

“ɨ աǟʀռɛɖ ʏօʊ! ǟʀȶɦʊʀ աǟʀռɛɖ ʏօʊ! ɨ ɢǟʋɛ ʏօʊ ʍɛʀƈʏ! աɦʏ ɦǟʋɛ ʏօʊ ʀɛȶʊʀռɛɖ?! ɖօ ʏօʊ ɦǟʋɛ ǟ ɖɛǟȶɦ աɨֆɦ?!” Matthew snarled, hunching over to be face to face with Gilbert. Gilbert gulped as Matthew lifted a large hand to cup his face and lean in closer, “ʏօʊ ʀɛǟʟʟʏ ɖօ ֆʍɛʟʟ ɖɛʟɨƈɨօʊֆ. ɨ ƈǟռ’ȶ ɛʋɛռ ɮɛɢɨռ ȶօ ɛӼքʟǟɨռ ɦօա ʍʊƈɦ ɨ աǟռȶ ȶօ ɖʀǟɨռ ʏօʊʀ ɦɛǟʀȶ ǟռɖ ʀɨք օʊȶ ʏօʊʀ ɮʀǟɨռ...” Matthew licked his nonexistent lips and stared into Gilbert’s eyes, hunger in his own eyes, “ɨ աǟռȶ ȶօ ȶɛǟʀ ʏօʊ օքɛռ, ɢɨʟɮɛʀȶ. ɨ աǟռȶ ȶօ ɖɛʋօʊʀ ʏօʊ ʄʟɛֆɦ, ƈɦɛա օռ ʏօʊʀ ɮօռɛֆ, ɖʀɨռӄ ʏօʊʀ ʝʊɨƈɛֆ... ɛʋɛʀʏȶɦɨռɢ...” Matthew growled lowly, his eyes continuing to focus in on Gilbert. Gilbert gulped. He knew this was a bad idea. Why had he even returned? He didn’t want to die, he had no reason to come here. He had gotten lucky last time. This time he knew he couldn’t be as lucky. Matthew took in a large breath and backed up, his empty, human-esque eyes still trained on him, “ǟֆʍʊƈɦ ǟֆ ɨ ƈʀǟʋɛ ʏօʊ, ʏօʊʀ ʄɛǟʀ ɨֆ ʍʊƈɦ ʍօʀɛ ʀɛաǟʀɖɨռɢ. ɨ աɨʟʟ ǟʟʟօա ʏօʊ ȶօ ʟɨʋɛ, ɮʊȶ ʏօʊ աɨʟʟ ʀɛȶʊʀռ աɛɛӄʟʏ ȶօ ֆɛɛ ʍɛ, ʊռɖɛʀֆȶǟռɖ?” Gilbert nodded, eager to leave and get back to his bed. Matthew made an expression akin to a smile and sniffed the air, letting out a quiet moan that made Gilbert a bit uncomfortable, “ռօա ʟɛǟʋɛ ɮɛʄօʀɛ ʏօʊʀ ֆƈɛռȶ ɮɛƈօʍɛֆ ȶօօ ʍʊƈɦ ǟռɖ ɨ ɦʊʀȶʏօʊ,” Gilbert once again nodded and quickly turned heel to dash away and out of the forest. 

He had made a massive mistake in returning to the forest.

And that was how he got to where he was. Almost a year of weekly visits, he was finally starting to get used to being in Matthew’s presence. In fact, the current day would mark the day that Gilbert first entered the forest and met both Arthur and Matthew.He and Matthew had, strangely enough, kind of become friends. Gilbert was even kind of excited to visit Matthew. He had his alarm set for 12pm so he could be in the forest by 1am and when he was awoken by the alarm, he went down to the forest with a smile. He passed by Arthur’s house and entered the forest, making a bee-line for Matthew’s cave. Much like many other weekly visits, he expected to see the deformed body of a Wendigo awaiting him in the cave, only this time, when he entered and shone his light on the inside, he saw a young man with pale, blond hair that was insanely messy and disheveled. His eyes were blueish with a slight purple tint and his clothes were extremely ripped, revealing pale skin and an overly thin body shape. He looked starved,

“I-I... w-who are you?” He slowly approached the young man, and tried to lay a hand on his shoulder, only for it to be swatted away with an unbelievable amount of force,

“I’m Matthew!” He rasped. Gilbert’s eyes widened. That was... Matthew’s voice. Almost. It wasn’t distorted and broken like his,

“H-How? Vhat happene-“

“Arthur did some digging and found a spell that could allow me to freely transform between human and Wendigo,” 

“I’m sorry, vhat? Arthur... discovered a spell?” Matthew nodded,

“Do you not know? Arthur is a talented Mage, h-“

“HE’S A MAGE?!” Matthew let out a grumble, and rolled his eyes,

“Yes, he’s a mage. There’s a reason I never try to attack him. But that’s besides the point. I now have a human form thanks to him. It dulls my senses significantly, but that’s good. My hunger is reduced as is my sense of smell... I have less of an urge to kill and eat,” Matthew finished. Gilbert smiled and before he knew what he was doing, he had pulled Matthew into a hug,

“I’m glad Arthur vas able to help you! Now I can introduce you to my roommate I’ve told you about! Oh, Matthew, ve can spend so much more time togezer now!” Matthew stayed frozen in place, not moving to hug Gilbert back, He pushed Matthew away, keeping his hands on Matthew’s shoulders, a wide smile on his face, “I’ll bring you some fresh clothes zen ve can go into town!” Matthew just stared at him blankly, hardly any emotion on his face,

“G-Gilbert... You have to understand I’m still a Wendigo. While my sense of smell is weakened, your scent is still apparent to me and in the town there’s tons of people, which means the scents are multiplied. If you take me to the town, I’m afraid I’d-I’d kill so m-many. I’d be overwhelmed,” Gilbert frowned at that, “you don’t know how much I’m holding back when I’m around you. I’ve said before, I’ll say it again... I’ve had so many fantasies about killing you and tearing you apart. Of snacking on your bones, draining your heart of blood, ripping out your brains and so much more. Y-You...” Matthew placed his head in his hands, and cutting himself off. Gilbert nervously shifted in his spot where he was standing, uncomfortable with the so-called fantasies that Matthew had about his Brutal murder. He’d heard it before, but the times he had heard it before, the words were distorted and coming out of the maw of a beast. This was coming from a human. Or atleast someone who appeared human, “you know how much I dislike killing, Gilbert. I only do it when I can’t control myself any longer and I need the food. I’ve tried to kill you on multiple occasions, for fucks sake,” Gilbert winced at the mention of the times Matthew had tried to kill him,

“Yeah, but you didn’t mean it, Matthew.You lost yourself in my... my scent. I vas able to bring you back before you did anyzing, it’s fine,” Matthew shook his head,

“It really isn’t...” Matthew paused, “C-Can we stop talking about this?” Gilbert nodded,

“I like that idea... okay, so, lemme tell you about vhat Roderich did ze other day-“

* * *

The next few months went by quicker then Gilbert expected. He grew used to Matthew’s human form and if he wasn’t honest with himself...he was beginning to like Matthew. His human form ended up being surprisingly beautiful after he had gotten a proper shower at Arthur’s house and given clothes by Gilbert. Even before Matthew had gained his human form, Gilbert had found himself strangely enamoured with the beast. The human form was just the cherry on top. 

Gods, what had he done? Not only falling for another man, but a monster as well?

A few more months passed, and Arthur began visiting Matthew at the same time as Gilbert and the three of them became proper friends together. Arthur often showed off his magic for Gilbert, Gilbert would tell stories about his life and Matthew would just listen. 

Then Roderich went missing. It was so sudden and Gilbert has no idea what had happened. Roderich’s close friend, Elizaveta, had no clue what had happened to Roderich, in fact, no body had any explanation for what happened. She was absolutely distraught when Roderich was announced as missing. That night, Gilbert went to visit Matthew. He stopped by Arthur’s to check in on him, only to get no reply when he knocked. He figured Arthur was asleep and made his way into the forest. As he got closer to Matthew’s cave, he began to smell rotting flesh. Strange. All the times Gilbert had seen Matthew since he had a human form the disgusting stench was less prominent, but now it was even stronger then when he first entered the forest. His mind immediately went to Roderich. Had Roderich entered the forest while Matthew was unable to control himself? Why would Roderich even go into the forest? He sped up his walking and got closer to the cave. It was 1am, and he couldn’t see anything very well. He got out his phone and shone his light into the cave, holding his breath. Roderich has been missing for almost a week now, surely he didn’t enter the forest? Gilbert slowly entered the cave, shining his light so he could see in front of him. He inspected everything, and noticed freshly stained rocks. The blood was still red. Gilbert gulped. It couldn’t be Roderich, right?

“M-Matthew?” He called, hoping that Matthew was in the right of mind. Or atleast the closest you could get to being in the right of mind in his condition, “R-Roderich?” 

“աǟֆ ȶɦǟȶ ɦɨֆ ռǟʍɛ? ɨ’ʍ ֆօʀʀʏ, ɢɨʟɮɛʀȶ. ɦɛ ʄօʟʟօաɛɖ ʏօʊ ɦɛʀɛ ʟǟֆȶ ȶɨʍɛ ʏօʊ ʋɨֆɨȶɛɖ, ǟռɖ-ǟռɖ ʍʏ ɦʊռɢɛʀ ɢօȶ ȶɦɛ ɮɛֆȶ օʄ ʍɛ,” Gilbert quickly turned to be face to face with Matthew’s Wendigo form. His true form. blood that was still red stained his skull-face and his normally human-esque eyes were glazed over and empty. He was hunched over, and the few patches of light fur he had was stained red as well. Gilbert could feel himself shrinking in Matthew’s presence, “ɦɛ աǟֆǟʍǟʐɨռɢʟʏ ɖɛʟɨƈɨօʊֆ, ȶɦօʊɢɦ... ռօա ɨ ƈǟռ’ȶ ɦɛʟք ɮʊȶ աօռɖɛʀ աɦǟȶ ʏօʊ’ɖ ȶǟֆȶɛ ʟɨӄɛ, ɢɨʟɮɛʀȶ...” Matthew leaned down to sniff Gilbert. Gilbert sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to believe it. He knew Matthew was a Wendigo, even if it was hard to forget at times. He knew Matthew craved human flesh and bones. He had nearly died to him multiple times due to the uncontrollable hunger, but for some reason he never foresaw someone following him and dying. 

Oh gods, Roderich was dead. He finally broke composure and slid down against the wall, placing his head in his hands, he felt his eyes start to water. Sure, he and Roderich never really liked each other, but he couldn’t imagine how he’d continue without him, especially now that he knew what had truthfully happened. Matthew leaned down even further to be on eye level with Gilbert, a low grumble escaping him,

“ɨ’ʍ ֆօʀʀʏ, ɮʊȶ ʏօʊ ӄռօա ɨ ɦǟʋɛռ’ȶ ɛǟȶɛռ քʀօքɛʀʟʏ ɨռ ʍօռȶɦֆ. ǟʀȶɦʊʀ ɦǟֆ ɮɛɛռ ֆʊֆȶǟɨռɨռɢ ʍɛ օʄʄ օʄ ʍǟɢɨƈǟʟʟʏ ƈʀɛǟȶɛɖ քɛօքʟɛ, ɮʊȶ ȶɦǟȶ ɦǟʀɖʟʏ ƈօʍքǟʀɛֆ ȶօ ǟ ʀɛǟʟ ɦʊʍǟռ...” Matthew paused to take in Gilbert’s scent, letting out a quiet moan, “քʟʊֆ, ȶɦɛ քɛօքʟɛ ɦɛ ƈʀɛǟȶɛֆ ɖօռ’ȶʄɛɛʟ. ɨ ɖօռ’ȶ ɢɛȶ ȶɦɛ ֆǟȶɨֆʄǟƈȶɨօռ օʄ ɦɛǟʀɨռɢ ֆօʍɛօռɛ ֆƈʀɛǟʍ ǟռɖ աʀɨȶɦɛ ɮɛռɛǟȶɦ ʍʏ ƈʟǟաֆ. ȶɦɛʏ ɖօռ’ȶ ʄɛɛʟ ʄɛǟʀ, ɨȶ’ֆ ռօȶ ǟֆ ʀɛաǟʀɖɨռɢ,” Gilbert stifled a gasp between tears, 

“YOU ATE MY ROOMMATE!” He yelled, finally able to speak properly, “YOU KILLED AND ATE RODERICH!” Matthew dipped his large head,

“աօʊʟɖ ʏօʊ ʀǟȶɦɛʀ ɨ ɛǟȶ ʏօʊ?,” he rasped out, looking into Gilbert’s eyes, “աօʊʟɖ ʏօʊ ʀǟȶɦɛʀ ɨ ʟօֆɛ ʍʏֆɛʟʄ ǟռɖ ɛǟȶ ʏօʊ?” He repeated, “ɦɛ ʍǟɖɛ ȶɦɛ ƈɦօɨƈɛ ȶօ ʄօʟʟօա ʏօʊ. ɨȶ ɨֆ ɦɨֆ օառʄǟʊʟȶ,” Gilbert shook his head, 

“NO!! You still killed him, Matthew! You’ve proved yourself to have ze ability to hold back! You’ve never tried to eat Arthur, and you always stop yourself vhenever you try and eat me! You could’ve let him go!”

“ ռ - ռօ ... ʏ-ʏ օ ʊ  ȶ աօ ǟʀɛ ɖɨʄʄɛʀɛ ռ ȶ ...” 

“And in vhat vay are ve different?! Vhy can you control yourself around us, but not someone else like Roderich!” Matthew fell back onto his haunches, 

“ɨ’ʋɛ ռɛʋɛʀ ǟȶȶǟƈӄɛɖ ǟʀȶɦʊʀ ɮ-ɮɛƈǟʊֆɛ օʄ աɦǟȶ ɦɛ ɨֆ. ɦɛ’ֆ ǟ ʍǟɢɛ, ǟռɖ ʍǟɢɛֆ ռօȶ օռʟʏ ֆʍɛʟʟ ɖɨֆɢʊֆȶɨռɢ, ɮʊȶ ȶǟֆȶɛ ɢʀօֆֆ,” Matthew paused to face away from Gilbert, letting out a low, distraught growl before continuing, 

“ɨ ɖ օռ ’ ȶ ɛǟ ȶ ʏ օ ʊ ɮɛ ƈ ǟʊ ֆ ɛ  օ ʄ  ա ɦ օ ʏ օ ʊ ǟʀɛ. ʏ օ ʊ ǟʀɛ  ա ɦǟ ȶ ɨ ʟ օօ ӄ ʄ օ ʀ ա ǟʀɖ  ȶ օ ɛʋɛʀʏ  ա ɛɛӄ. ʏ-ʏ օ ʊ ʍǟӄɛ  ȶ ɦɨ ֆ ɨʍʍ օ ʀ ȶ ǟʟ ʟɨʄɛ ɮɛǟʀǟɮʟɛ!” He voice distorted even more as he spoke, some of the words being so garbled that Gilbert could hardly make out what was being said, 

“You s-still killed R-Roderich! He vas my roommate!” Gilbert choked out, “Roderich is dead! His family vill never know vhat happened to him! Elizaveta vill never get closure! He’ll be deemed missing and no one vill ever know ze truth!” Gilbert stood up and turned out of the cave, “I-I’m sorry, Matthew, b-but I need to go b-back home... Arthur c-can keep you company tonight,” Before Matthew could say anything else, Gilbert took off, running through the forest and back to his empty flat. Roderich was never going to return, gods, what was he going to do?

* * *

A month passed. The investigation looking for Roderich was closed. 

Two months passed. He still hadn’t returned to see Matthew.

Three months passed. He began to feel like he was missing something, but he couldn’t figure out what.

Four Months passed. Arthur had come to check in on him to make sure he was okay. He told him that Matthew missed Gilbert. Gilbert ignored it.

Five months passed. He started to want to be with Matthew again. He needed someone to talk to, but the only one he could go to was Matthew, who was the source of his grief.

Six months passed. He decided to finally brave the forest. He went out at 1pm this time, instead of the usual 1am. It was daytime so he had no fear. He skipped stopping by Arthur’s house and went straight into the forest, 

“MATTHEW?!” He cried as he walked down to the cave, following the stinking smell of rotting flesh, “It’s me, Gilbert!” He shouted, scanning the area as he got closer to the cave, “Matthew?! Vhere ar-“ he was instantly brought to the ground before he could react. Matthew’s large Wendigo body was on top of him, his skull-face staring deep into his eyes. He panted heavily as he held Gilbert down forcibly. His claws dug into Gilbert’s arms as he was held down, drawing blood, which must’ve set something off in Matthew, because before Gilbert could register what was happening, Matthew’s rough tongue was scraping agianst the his skin, lapping at Gilbert’s blood, occasionally tearing his skin with the roughness of his tongue. Matthew let out a shameless moan as he licked Gilbert’s arm, coaxing more blood out,

“ɖ-ɖɛʟɨ ƈ ɨ օ ʊ ֆ ... ɨ  ֆ ɦ օ ʊʟɖ’ʋɛ ɖ օռ ɛ  ȶ ɦɨ ֆ ʏɛǟʀ ֆ ǟɢ օ ,  ա ɦɛ ռ ɨ ʄɨʀ ֆ ȶ ʄ օ ʊ ռ ɖ ʏ օ ʊ... ǟɦ, ʏ-ʏ օ ʊ’ʀɛ  ֆ - ֆօ ɢ օօ ɖ, ɢɨʟɮɛʀ ȶ ,” Gilbert struggled to rid himself of Matthew’s grip, but the pressure was too much for him to break free,

“M-Matthew, p-please... St-Stop...” He tried to pull his arm away from Matthew with no success, “Matthew, please! S-Stop! You’re hurting me!” Matthew drew back and the mention of his name. So he was still able to register his name, which meant he still had some semblance of right thought in his mind. Matthew stared emptily at Gilbert for a few seconds, then quickly backed away, his eyes suddenly gaining life again. He looked to Gilbert for a second then quickly turned and ran, leaving Gilbert on the ground with a small wound on his arm to try and process what had just happened. It took him a few seconds to get enough energy to push himself off the ground and look around. He had to find Matthew now. He made a bee-line for Matthew’s cave, occasionally calling out his name. When he got to the cave, he found Matthew, in his human form, bawling out his eyes,

“M-Matthew? A-Are you alright?” Matthew lifted his head and looked to Gilbert. Gilbert noticed that Matthew must’ve transform hastily, since Antlers still sat upon his head,

“I-I licked your blood, Gilbert! I enjoyed it! If you hadn’t yelled, I probably would’ve gone farther and bit off your arm!” Gilbert shook his head and grabbed Matthew by the shoulders, pulling him into a hug, 

“Matthew, it’s fine. Yes, it felt... weird and yes, it hurt, but you veren’t zinking properly,” he muttered into the crook of Matthew’s neck, trying his best to comfort him, “Please, don’t stress about it, I-I...” Gilbert paused and pushed Matthew away to look him in the face, and gave a sweet smile, “I zink I’d have trouble truly hating you Matthew... I-I’ve grown attached to you,” Matthew returned his smile with a toothy grin, revealing large, sharp canines. Gilbert nearly flinched at the sight of the his teeth, but stopped himself before he could react. He was trying to comfort Matthew, not make him feel like a monster, even if that was what he truthfully was. Matthew sucked in a breath and fell back into Gilbert’s arms, his Antlers nearly getting in the way. Gilbert had to carefully dodge to the side to avoid being impaled by the Antlers but when Matthew was in his arms, he wrapped his own arms around Matthew, and hugged him again, “M-Matthew? A-Are you okay?” Matthew had been silent for a few seconds now, and Gilbert was worried,

“G-Gilbert... I-I’m sorry,” Matthew pulled away and looked at Gilbert, something in his eyes that Gilbert couldn’t quite place. As Gilbert opened his mouth to respond, Matthew grabbed his face and pressed his lips to his. Gilbert’s eyes widened at the kiss, but he still kissed back. Matthew let out a growl and forcibly pushed him against the wall. He inwardly chuckled. Matthew seemed to do that a lot, but this specific time, he didn’t mind,

“W-Who would’ve known your lust would taste so good,” Matthew growled, his voice slightly distorting despite his current form. He then broke away away from the kiss, “I-It’s... It’s so sweet,” Gilbert pulled Matthew back, and stared into his purple eyes,

“M-Matthew,” 

“Yes?”

“Shut up and kiss me,” Matthew smiled, a quiet grumble escaping his lips, as he pressed down on Gilbert once again, earning a moan from the other,

“Hey you two, sorry to be a cockblock, but I have some new pupa prepared, Matthew,” Gilbert groaned at Arthur’s voice and pushed Matthew to the side, 

“Really Arthur? Y-You couldn-“ Gilbert’s words were cut off by the unsettling cracking of bones and a low, feral growl. Gilbert quickly turned to see Matthew in his true form, frothing at the mouth, his eyes widened, staring down Arthur. Arthur stared back for a moment as Matthew stepped forward to inspect the mage,

“ʄ օօ ɖ... ɢɨʋɛ ʄ օօ ɖ...” Gilbert cringed at the roughness of Matthew’s voice, “ʏ օ ʊ... ǟʀɛ ʍǟɢɛ...  ƈ ǟ ռ ’ ȶ ɛǟ ȶ ʏ օ ʊ...” Arthur nodded, a smug grin on his face,

“That’s right, you can’t eat me, atleast, unless you want to get a severe stomach ache... now stay there, I have the spell prepared. You’ll be getting four Pupas,” Matthew backed up, growling quietly as Arthur chanted something in another language. Gilbert watched as four, extremely generic people spawned out of thin air in a swirl of green and yellow mist in front of Arthur and All at the same time, the four people turned to face Arthur. Arthur let out a huff and forcibly shoved the four magically made people in front of Matthew, who’s eyes had dilated at the sight of the people. Matthew approached one of the nameless people, lifting up their face with his large, clawed hand. Matthew sniffed them and brought their face up so he was staring into their eyes. The person stared back with no emotion as a sinister smile cracked into Matthew’s face. Matthew turned to look at another of the magically made person,

“Back up, If you don’t want to get into the... crossfire. Unlike me, if you get in the way he won’t hesitate to eat you as well,” Gilbert nervously nodded and took a step back as Matthew suddenly lashed out, slamming one of the emotionless people against the wall. He held another in his hand, crushing them with his strong grip. Gilbert winced at the sound of their bones crunching beneath Matthew’s hands. Matthew then leaned down to take hold of a third person with his jaw, crushing them with his teeth. Gilbert once again winced as Matthew tore into one person with his teeth and another with his claws. He slammed his Hooved feet into the stomach of the last, previously untouched person, crushing their ribs. At that point, Gilbert turned to look away, not wanting to witness anymore of Matthew eating. He knew the people he was eating weren’t technically even people, but it was still a disturbing sight. He closed his eyes and just listened to the sound of Flesh being ripped and bones being crunched as Matthew easily chewed on them. He tried his best to shut out the noises but they were so loud and hard to ignore. He heard a quiet, muffled chuckle come from next to him, and he opened an eye to see Arthur smiling fondly,

“You get used it... I’ve only seen a few Wendigos in my time, but I’ve been around with Matthew for long enough. Of course he’s not the only supernatural creature I’ve encountered. I’ve met my fair share of Aufhockers in Germany, Gargoyles in France, Fae in England and more. I’ve seen a lot, so nothing really phases me...” Arthur paused and turned to look at Gilbert, a glint of amusement in his eyes, “though I must say, I’ve never met someone who has fallen for a Wendigo with the knowledge that their love was a monster. It’s a curious case, for sure...” Arthur mused. Gilbert reddened. He had forgotten about that. He felt heat rise to his face and he quickly turned his face away from Arthur when he heard him let out a laugh, “don’t worry about it, lad. He may be a Wendigo, but considering I was able to reawaken his human side with a spell, it’s safe to say he’s not all Monster. He still has human in him even after all the years... It’s truly unusual,” Gilbert nodded, still not looking at Arthur, “Ah, it would seem he’s done eating. I must go recover now, summoning four pupas is quite draining,” Arthur yawned and turned around to walk away, leaving Gilbert alone with Matthew, panting heavily as he came down from his high,

“M-Matthew? A-Are you good, now?” Matthew turned to look at him, fresh blood splattered everywhere on his face and body. Gilbert gulped as Matthew approached him,

“ʏɛֆ, ʍʏ ɦʊռɢɛʀ ɦǟֆ ɮɛɛռ ֆǟȶɨǟȶɛɖ ʄօʀ ռօա,” Matthew leaned down to be face to face with Gilbert. His face slowly cracked and squished as it morphed back into that of a humans, and his body contorted in multiple ways so he could regain his human body, “I should be good for another few months if I conserve myself well,” he grabbed Gilbert’s head and pressed his forehead to Gilbert’s, “I think now that I’ve just eaten, I’d like to take you up on your offer of meeting other people in the town... perhaps you can introduce me to Francis and Antonio?” Gilbert perked up at the mention of his childhood friends,

“Sounds great, Mattie!” 

“Mattie?”

“No... hmm... Birdie! I’ll call you birdie!” Matthew quietly giggled,

“Fine, but I’m going to call you Gil,” Gilbert nodded,

“Fine by me! Now come along, before ze sun sets!” He took Matthew’s hand and dragged him with him out of the forest, smiling and encouraging Matthew. When they got outside of the forest, they slowed to a walk and began to walk down to Gilbert’s college campus holding hands. About half way into their walk to the campus, Matthew decided to speak up,

“Have I ever told you that m-my father was named Francis?” Gilbert’s eyes widened as he looked to Matthew,

“R-Really? Are you sure you v-vant to talk about your father right now?” Matthew shrugged,

“It’s been just over two hundred years, I’ve had time to... adjust to his, uh... his death,” Gilbert nodded,

“R-Right... so, speaking of Franny, he’s very forward, so don’t be surprised if he tries to make a move on you,” 

“Yeah, you’ve told me about that before. Y’know, my Father was quite similar. He flirted with everyone back then and it was quite entertaining to watch him get rejected. Interestingly enough, it hardly ever happened, atleast as far as I can remember,” Matthew smiled fondly. Gilbert nodded, 

“Vhat if he’s like, your father but reincarnated or somezing?” Matthew let out a snort of amusement,

“I don’t think so. Me and Arthur May exist, but not reincarnation,” Gilbert shrugged,

“Yeah yeah, vhatever you say... actually, speaking of Arthur, vhy don’t you eat Mages? Aren’t zey just humans with magic?” Matthew grimaced at the thought, 

“Ugh, that’s exactly what makes them taste so bad. Mages aren’t necessarily humans, per say. They’re more like... a sub-species, I guess. It’s the magic that makes them taste so terrible. It also messes with our senses and gives us awful stomach aches. It’s just... eating them is overall disgusting and terrible, and I can still remember the first time I made that mistake... aaugh, it was not pleasant, at all,” Matthew shuddered as he recalled the memory, “it was absolutely disgusting... but, uh, can we switch the topic?” Gilbert nodded, and held open a door for Matthew, leading him into one of the dorm buildings, 

“Ve’ll be at Franny and Toni’s dorm in a bit, zey’re on ze second floor,” Matthew nodded,

“Sounds fun. H-Have you told them about me?” 

“V-Vhat? No, of course not!” Matthew nodded, not replying. They walked in silence until they arrived at a dorm numbered 7812. Gilbert gave it a knock and The two stood there in silence for about a minute. Then Francis answered the door, and almost immediately it was shut. Gilbert was about to knock again, when his arm was grasped by Matthew,

“Don’t.” He could see Matthew’s blue eyes flare with anger, a bit of purple surfacing, “Let me,” Gilbert brought his arm down and allowed Matthew to knock on the door. This time, Antonio answered with a smile,

“Heeyyy, Gilbert! Come on in! Who’s that friend you got there?” 

“M-My name is Matthew,” Antonio took Matthew’s hand and shook it,

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Matthew!” Matthew nodded, and was about to speak with he was cut off by Francis letting out a singular laugh,

“HA! You kept your name! ‘ow are you even alive? It’s been over two- ‘undred years!” Gilbert heard a low growl escape Matthew,

“No, how are you alive?! I-I... I killed you! I ate you!” Gilbert frantically looked from Francis and Matthew, and caught sight of Antonio looking equally confused, if not more since he had no context at all as to what was happening,

“I’m not ‘uman, simple as zat. I never ‘ave been. A born and raised Incubus from ze depths of ‘ell,” 

“I’M SORRY, FUCKING VHAT?!” Francis turned his attention to Gilbert and sighed,

“I... Gilbert, this is... I don’t even know.” Francis turned back to Matthew, “Now tell me ‘ow you’re still alive. I know for a fact you’re a ‘uman, I raised you for fucks sake,” Matthew lowered his head,

“I’m not human anymore. After I killed and ate you, I became a Wendigo,” This time, Antonio stepped in,

“Okay, you two have some big explainin’ to do! I’ve never even seen you, Matthew, and now I learn that one of my closest friends is a-a demon?! T-This is insane!” Francis flopped down on the couch, letting out a long, exasperated sigh,

“Can you let me and Petit Mathieu figure out what’s happening first?” Antonio closed his eyes for a second to think then nodded his head, sitting next to Francis on the couch, 

“F-Figure it out...” Antonio waved Francis off, who nodded and looked to Matthew,

“So, you became a Wendigo zen?” Matthew nodded, “so ‘ow are you a ‘uman right now? As far as I know, Wendigos are only able to obtain ‘uman forms if zey ‘ave ‘umanity left with the ‘elp of a talented mage... No, don’t tell me... Art’ur ‘elped you?!” Matthew gave yet another nod,

“You know him?” 

“Ha! Do I know ‘im? Do I know ‘im?! ‘e is my main source of sustenance in zis town!” Gilbert coughed on his own spit at that sentence,

“I-I’m sorry, Y-Your vhat?” Francis rolled his eyes,

“Surely you are aware of what an Incubus is?” Gilbert nodded his head, “so you know what I mean?” Gilbert nodded his head again, “zen what ‘as you confused?”

“I-I don’t know, the fact that-that Arthur is my good friend and I never knew about you being at his house!” Francis raised an eyebrow,

“Who said we do it at ‘is ‘ouse?” Gilbert gaged,

“No thank you, I don’t need to hear it,” Francis laughed at that and turned back to Matthew,

“So, Mathieu, am I correct in assuming it was mon Cher Art’ur zat allowed you to become ‘uman?” Matthew shrugged,

“Y-Yes, he helped... b-but if you’re an Incubus, how were you my father? Incubi, or succubi for that matter can only truly mate with another of their kind, no?” Francis nodded,

“Oui, it was supposed to be apunishment from ze big guy. I ‘ad to live a ‘uman life and raise a child, which was you. Imagine ‘is surprise when I came to ‘im to tell ‘im I’d been killed and eaten by my own son! Ha, it was priceless!” Francis laughed to himself. Antonio silently shifted a bit away from Francis on the couch as Gilbert and Matthew stood, watching him laugh, “Anyway, zanks for ‘elping out of my punishment. Zey didn’t ‘ave any spare ‘uman children so I got off after you killed me,” Matthew cringed, 

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t do it again. You Succubi and Incubi taste disgusting. Not as bad as mages though, ugh, they’re truly the grossest thing, but your kind is still gross,” Francis raised an eyebrow,

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with eating me back zen,” Matthew shook his head,

“I was a still human back then. I couldn’t taste the difference. I’m a Wendigo now, I’d taste the difference if I were to kill and eat you again.” Francis hummed a response and glanced to Gilbert and Antonio,

“Right, well, any questions you two?” 

“Any questions?! Francis, do you not realize what has happened?! I have no context!” Antonio shouted, turning to face Francis, “I’m not sure I want to hear the context though... Uh, Gilbert, Matthew, I’m sorry, can I be left with Francis? We need to have a talk,” Gilbert nodded and took Matthew’s hand, leading them outside nervously,

“S-So... you vanna talk about that?” Matthew shook his head silently, “fair,”

They then walked back to the forest and Gilbert saw Matthew off. The cracking of bones entered his ears as Matthew transformed back into his true form, and ran back into the deep woods. On the way back, Gilbert stopped by Arthur’s house, because apparently Arthur had been fucking a literal Demon and was okay with that, so when he got to the house, he pounded on the door. Arthur was quick to come to the door, his hair messier then usual, the bags under his eyes heavier then normal,

“Y-Yeah, Gilbert?”

“Vhen vere you going to tell me you vere fucking A Demon? An Incubus, no less?” Arthur’s eyes slightly widened,

“I... Gilbert, I can’t do this right now. My energy is entirely drained, I really need to rest. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t think it was too important or how to bring it up...” Arthur yawned, 

“A-Arthur, are you alright? You look...”

“Terrible?” Arthur interrupted,

“Y-Yeah, you look terrible,” Arthur yawned again,

“Creating those Pupas comes with a price, Gilbert. They drain me of my life, so after making them I need to rest to regain my energy...” Arthur paused to slowly blink and yawn once again, “so please, let me rest,” the door was then slammed in his face before he could stop Arthur from doing anything else. 

Now he just learned that Arthur was slowly killing himself for the sake of Matthew and everyone in the town... he doubted anything could top this day with how wild it had been.

* * *

About a month passed. He and Antonio had since gotten used to the idea that France was not only a demon, but an Incubus. Both Matthew and Arthur were introduced into their little friend group, bumping up the number from the three of them to five. They often went out together as friends, though it could be Argued that Francis and Arthur were more then just friends. It was what lead them to organizing a day out to go eat and chat at a nearby restaurant.

Gilbert held Matthew’s hand as they knocked on Antonio and Francis’s dorm room,

“¡Hola, Gilbert and Matthew!” Antonio greeted them as he opened the door with a smile, “Arthur’s already here, so let’s leave!” Gilbert nodded,

“Awesome! Let’s get going zen!” Antonio turned around, calling for both Francis and Arthur to come to the door. Once everyone was ready, they went out to a nearby restaurant to have their first proper meal together. Matthew was excited to try normal food for the first time in two-hundred years, Antonio was just happy to be with friends, Gilbert was glad that he got to be with Matthew, Francis was ecstatic to be around Arthur and Arthur tried his best to stay neutral about his situation with Francis.

Overall, every agreed that they would enjoy the day. When they finally arrived at the restaurant, Francis asked for a table for five, which they were quickly lead to by a waitress. Everyone picked out their food and got ready for ordering, though Matthew had trouble picking out what he liked,

“I-I haven’t eaten food like this in two-hundred years... I can’t remember what I like,” Matthew whispered,

“You might like ze Steak. I can’t speak from a meat eaters perspective since I live off of sexual pleasure, but as a non-human like you, I can say zat Steaks can be quite delicious. Plus, if I remember correctly, you enjoyed steaks back then,” Matthew nodded,

“I guess that’s what I’ll have then!” Matthew smiled, placing his menu down. When the waitress arrived to take their orders, Matthew had ordered a steak after everyone else placed their order. As they all awaited their food to arrive, they held idle chatter about various topics. The supernatural came up often, what with two supernatural creatures at the table plus a magic-user. Gilbert cut off the conversation the moment he smelt the food arriving. He noticed Matthew scrunch up his nose at the sight of his steak, and look blankly at the utensils in front of him,

“Do you remember how to use a knife and fork?” Matthew nervously shook his head,

“N-No. I’m used to having sharp teeth and long claws to tear open the people I eat...” Gilbert gulped,

“R-Right... well, uh, you vant your knife in one hand, and your fork in your other, like zis-“ he proceeded to pick up his own knife and fork, showing Matthew what to do. Matthew copied it after a few tries, then Gilbert showed him how to cut up his steak. After he finished his mini lesson for Matthew, he immediately got to digging into his own food,

“Is... Is this supposed to smell good to you guys?” Matthew piped up, pointing to his steak, “because it absolutely stinks. It smells horrid and my hopes are low for what it will taste like,” Francis shrugged,

“Yes, zat’s no surprise considering what you are... I must say zough, your self control is amazing,” Matthew nodded his head, 

“Yes, I’ve been told that,” he smiled and cut into the steak, putting a small piece into his mouth. He chewed it for about a second before opening his mouth and letting it fall out, shaking his head, “no, can’t eat that, it’s disgusting, I just can’t,” Francis let out a laugh,

“what were you zinking? Did you zink it would taste good?” Matthew shrugged,

“I don’t know. I’m in a human body right now, so I thought It’d be different I guess,” Francis let out another light chuckle as Antonio reached across the table, grabbing Matthew’s plate with a smile, 

“you don’t mind, do you?” He asked,

“No no, please, go ahead, eat that revolting piece of meat, I certainly won’t,” Antonio nodded, 

“Nice! That means more for me!” Arthur looked to Matthew, a concerned look on his face,

“Matthew, did you swallow any of the steak?” 

“Uh, maybe?” Arthur sighed, 

“Okay, uh, you may feel sick in a few minutes,” Matthew cringed,

“Is it gonna be like when I eat a mage?” Arthur shook his head,

“Oh, no, no, not nearly that bad. Perhaps it’d equal eating something like a deer or another wild animal,” Matthew let out a sigh of relief,

“Okay, so I’ll just have to throw it up?” Arthur nodded,

“Probably,” 

“Did you know this would happen?”

“I’ve never met one of your kind with the ability to reawaken their human side, so no, I didn’t know. I too assumed that you’d have a humans taste buds,” Matthew let out a grunt and turned away to look out the window, watching people pass by. Gilbert continued to eat his own food, watching Matthew stare outside. Antonio ate both his meal and Matthew’s steak, while Francis slowly picked at his food, staring down Arthur who occasionally uncomfortably shifted in his seat under Francis’s unmoving glare. As they all began to finish their food, Gilbert noticed Matthew’s eyes start to slightly dilate and change colour to be more purple then the blue it usually was as a human,

“B-Birdie? Are you feeling okay?” Matthew perked up and looked to Gilbert,

“M-Maybe... My stomach is starting to hurt, I must’ve swallowed some of that steak before I spat it out,” Gilbert placed a comforting hand on Matthew’s back,

“You’ll be find zough, right?” Matthew nodded,

“As far as I know, I can’t even be killed, so yeah, I’ll be fine,” 

“No, you can die, but it takes some effort to do so,” Arthur piped up, interrupting them,

“Uh... thanks?” 

“Yeah, there’s two main steps to killing your kind. Ripping out the heart, and then burning said heart to ashes,” Matthew gulped,

“Can we not talk about Killing me?” Arthur nodded nervously, 

“Right, sorry...”

“Hello sirs, who’s going to be paying the bill?” A waitress came by, having spotted that everyone was now done their food. Francis raised his hand after noticing no one else volunteered to pay,

“I’m ze oldest so I’ll do it,” 

“S-Sounds great! I’ll get you the bill then!” Francis’s nodded, a sly grin on his face, 

“She’s weak,” he commented as he leaned back in his chair, eyeing down the waitress as she walked away,

“What is that supposed to mean?” Antonio stared at Francis strangely,

“I ‘ardly did anyzing and she‘s fallen victim to my influence,” Antonio furrowed his brows,

“Fallen victim to your influence?” Francis chuckled,

“You know what I am, Toni, piece it toget’er yourself,” Francis gave a wink and pulled out his wallet when the waitress came back with the bill,

“I, uh, could I, uh, Get your-your number, sir?” Francis looked up from the bill, smiling,

“Why of course, Mon Cherie, ‘ere, I’ll write it on ze bill,” The waitress blushed and nodded, awaiting Francis to finish paying so she could get the bill. Once Francis was done they all picked up their stuff and left the restaurant. As soon as they were outside, Arthur snacked Francis up side the head angrily,

“Mon cher, what ever was zat for?” He turned around to face Arthur,

“What was that with the waitress, huh?” Francis’s eyes widened as he looked back to Arthur,

“Aww, are you jealous?”

“I am n-“

“I must feed, Art’ur. I can’t allow myself to simply starve,” Arthur rolled his eyes,

“Whatever, It’s not like I care,” Francis chuckled,

“Of course,” 

A few months passed, and the five of them had grown close.Matthew got more and more used to being in his human form more often, but he still needed to stretch his limbs after a long day. It was his need to stretch his limbs that led the five to go into the forest so Antonio could see Matthew’s true form for the first time,

“I’m excited to see what he looks like!” Antonio smiled, looking to Francis who nodded,

“Don’t expect ‘Im to be pretty like I am. Wendigos are nasty looking,” Antonio tilted his head, confused,

“Well of course, but still, I’m curious to see,” Francis shrugged, 

“Fair, you’ve only ever seen my true form, which isn’t a far cry from zis one, so of course you’re curious to see anot’er monster,” Antonio nodded and smiled,

“Exactly!” Francis let out a singular laugh and sighed, turning back to look at Arthur as they walked through the forest. When they arrived at Matthew’s cave, Gilbert walked over to stand by Francis and Antonio,

“Back up, he’s massive in his true form,” Antonio nodded as he backed up, keeping his eye Matthew as he stood at the entrance of the cave,

“Okay, Matthew, go ahead,” Arthur spoke as he went to stand next to the other three. Matthew gave a small nod, and soon his body was contorting and morphing in multiple ways, bones cracking and reforming, and fur rapidly growing as his skin stretched and ripped. The last thing to come in was his tall antlers as they rose from out of his skull-head. Antonio took another step back at the sight of the Wendigo form, but Matthew took a big step forward to be close to Antonio. He lowered his head down to look into Antonio’s eyes and he took in a breath and let it out with a sigh,

“ռօա ȶɦǟȶ ʍʏ ֆɛռֆɛֆ ɦǟʋɛ ʀɛȶʊʀռɛɖ, ʏօʊ ֆʍɛʟʟ զʊɨȶɛ ɢօօɖ, ȶօռɨ... “ he turned to look at Francis, “ʏօʊ, ɦօաɛʋɛʀ, ֆʍɛʟʟ ɦօʀʀɨɖ,” Francis smirked as he shrugged nonchalantly,

“What did you expect?”

“ʏօʊ... ʏօʊ ֆʍɛʟʟ ɛʋɛռ աօʀֆɛ ȶɦɛռ ǟʀȶɦʊʀ...” at the mention of his name, Arthur raised a large eyebrow,

“Really now? Huh, that’s... unexpected,” Matthew nodded back,

“I guess zat makes sense. I’m not even remotely ‘uman. Never ‘ave been,” Arthur nodded,

“Yes, I suppose,” Matthew turned back to Antonio, staying at eye level, hunched over. He raised one of his hands to lightly touch Antonio, who shifted at the touch. Matthew took another breath in and moved his snout to be closer to Antonio,

“ʍʍʍʍ... ɨ ɦǟʋɛռ’ȶ ɦǟɖ ǟ քʀօքɛʀ ɦʊʍǟռ ֆɨռƈɛ... ֆɨռƈɛ ȶɦǟȶ ɮʀօառ-ɦǟɨʀɛɖ ʍǟռ աɨȶɦ ɢʟǟֆֆɛֆ... ɨ ɮɛʟɨɛʋɛ ɦɛ աǟֆ ƈǟʟʟɛɖ ʀօɖɛʀɨƈɦ...” He mumbled, glancing back to Gilbert,

“Y-You ate Roderich?! That’s what happened to him?!” Matthew nodded, sniffing Antonio once again,

“ʏɛ ֆ , ǟ ռ ɖ ɦɛ  ա ǟ ֆ ɖɛʟɨ ƈ ɨ օ ʊ ֆ ...” Antonio backed up more, staring back at Matthew worriedly,

“Y-You ate him?!” Matthew nodded,

“ʏɛֆ, ɨ ɖɨɖ... ɨȶ աǟֆ ʀɛʄʀɛֆɦɨռɢ ȶօ ֆǟʏ ȶɦɛ ʟɛǟֆȶ ǟʄȶɛʀ ɦǟʋɨռɢ ȶօ ɛǟȶ ʄǟӄɛ քɛօքʟɛ ʄօʀ ֆօʟօռɢ,” he suddenly stood up fully to look out into the woods, taking a wiff of the air,

“ɨ ƈǟռ ֆʍɛʟʟ ǟռօȶɦɛʀ ռօռ-ɦʊʍǟռ... ɨ ƈǟռ’ȶ քʟǟƈɛ ɨȶ ɛӼǟƈȶʟʏ, ɮʊȶ ɨ ӄռօա ɨȶ’ֆ ռօȶ ɦʊʍǟռ...” Matthew continued to scan the area at his full height, his eyes widened as he sniffed the air again, “ɨȶ... ɨȶ ֆʍɛʟʟֆ ֆɨʍɨʟǟʀ ȶօ ʄʀǟռƈɨֆ... ɮʊȶ ֆȶɨʟʟ ɖɨʄʄɛʀɛռȶ...” Francis perked up,

“ℑ𝔰 𝔦𝔱 𝔰𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔱 𝔰𝔪𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔤?” He questioned, his voice starting to distort in a different way. Matthew looked down to Francis, and shook his head, 

“ʏ-ʏɛֆ... ɨȶ’ֆ ǟ ֆաɛɛȶ ֆƈɛռȶ... ɮʊȶ ɨȶ’ֆ ֆȶɨʟʟ ɖɨʄʄɛʀɛռȶ ʄʀօʍ ʏօʊʀֆ...” Francis grimaced,

“ 𝔄𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔩 ...” 

“Angel?” Antonio repeated, confused. Francis nodded,

“𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔶’𝔯𝔢 𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔟𝔞𝔟𝔩𝔶 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔢𝔵𝔢𝔠𝔲𝔱𝔢 𝔪𝔢...”Francis answered, allowing his tail unfurl out of his body and his horns grow out as he stood guard, “𝕮𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖔𝖚𝖙, 𝕬𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖑, 𝖜𝖊 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝖞𝖔𝖚’𝖗𝖊 𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊,” Francis growled, scanning the area with Matthew. Matthew let out another growl as he rapidly whipped around, trying to track where the smell was coming from,

“A-Are we safe?” Gilbert piped up,

“I can probably shield us from damage, but an Angel can easily breakthrough any magic I could ever do,” Gilbert gulped,

“S-So?”

“No, we aren’t safe, but from my experience, Angels will refuse to allow humans to get injured. They’re ruthlessly brutal when it comes to executing demons like Francis and other dark creatures like Matthew, but they would never hurt a human,” Antonio suddenly grabbed both Gilbert and Arthur’s hands,

“Let’s leave then. Let them deal with it. Even if the Angel doesn’t hurt us, we might get caught in the crossfire... it’s two against one, Francis and Matthew will hopefully be fine. There’s no way for us to help, right?” Arthur nodded,

“You’re correct. Leaving is probably the smartest thing to do, let’s go,”

As the three were exiting the forest, they heard a shrill screech cry out from where they just were. Gilbert winced when he heard it, as did Antonio,

“That sounded painful...” Gilbert commented,

“Let’s just hope it wasn’t Francis or Matthew,” Arthur nodded in agreement,

“We’ll know In due time...”

* * *

The next day, Gilbert got a text from Antonio telling him that Francis had returned to their shared dorm, battered and bruised, but still alive. He got no status on Matthew condition, though, so the next day he made his way down to the forest at the usual time of 1am. He trekked through the forest, shining his light so he could see properly as he walked to the cave,

“B-Birdie? Are you alright?”

“ɢ-ɢɨʟ?” Gilbert entered the cave, shining his light into the dark, where he spotted Matthew, in his true form, broken and bruised, even more so than usual, 

“Birdie, C-Can I help you?” He came up closer to Matthew,

“ռօ, ɨ’ʟʟ ɦɛǟʟ աɨȶɦɨռ ȶɦɛ ռɛӼȶ ɖǟʏ օʀ ȶաօ...” Matthew turned around to face Gilbert, his eyes empty, “օօօɦ, ɮʊȶ ʏօʊʀ ֆƈɛռȶ... ɦǟǟɦ~” Matthew breathed in Gilbert’s scent, letting out a moan as he closed the distance between them, “ɢ-ɢɨʟ?” Gilbert nodded his head, starting to feel himself freeze up from Matthew being so close to him in his current form. Matthew leaned in, and began shifting in front of Gilbert. Gilbert winced at the sound of his bones changing and deforming, and when he opened his eyes, he was met with a distraught looking human Matthew, “Gil, I...” Matthew sighed, and grabbed Gilbert, pulling him into a hug, “I should’ve let that Angel kill me... F-Francis managed to kill it, and-and then I ate them... They tasted gross as expected, but-but I needed to have something, the fight tired me out... I should’ve let them kill me...” Gilbert’s eyes widened as he hugged Matthew back, who was stuffing his face into Gilbert’s shoulder, on the brink of tears, 

“No no no, don’t say that...”

“GIL,” Matthew pushed away from the hug to look at Gilbert, “I crave humans, and strictly humans! My hunger is so much that I don’t even eat just flesh! I eat the bones when there’s no more meat to be had, I get so desperate for food! It’s-It’s terrible, but I love it! I love it so much! The way their flesh tears, the way their bones crunch, the way they struggle, the smell of their fear, EVERYTHING! I hate that I enjoy it so much!” Matthewpulled Gilbert back into a hug, while Gilbert stood there, trying to give comfort,

“I... “

“The very thought of eating anything other than a human disgusts me! I-I... Gil, I just... I hate myself so much,” Matthew cried, “W-What do you like about m-me?! What is t-there to like?!” He broke down, letting go of Gilbert and falling to the floor, bawling out his eyes,

“B-Birdie...” Gilbert knelt down time be on eye level with Matthew again, “You and I both know that what you do is terrible, but you yourself are not a bad person. Arthur feeds you every few months, and the last time you had a proper human... w-was when you-you... w-when y-you ate R-Roderich,” Matthew sniffled, and took his head out of his hands to look at Gilbert, his eyes shifting to be more purple,

“T-That doesn’t change anything! I-I st-still en-“ Gilbert cur Matthew off but bringing him into another hug,

“Let’s not think about it, then. You’re not a bad person and you are loved, understand that,” Matthew trembled as he continued crying, but not saying any other words. The two sat there for a few minutes until Matthew calmed down, his tears starting to dry after a few minutes of crying, “are you alright, now? Want to go to Arthur’s so you can clean yourself up?” Matthew nodded,

“Y-Yes, that’s a good idea. I’m quite messy, eh?” Gilbert smiled,

“Damn right you are, now, lets get going!” Gilbert helped Matthew stand back up, “Arthur is probably awake even if it’s 1am, so let’s go,”

When they arrived at Arthur’s house at the edge of the forest, Gilbert set Matthew down on a chair on the porch then knocked on the door. It took about three minutes for it to be answered, but when Arthur did eventually come to the door, he was just wearing a sweater with no shirt under and a messy pair of pants. His hair was even messier then usual, and he had an angry look on his face as he opened the door,

“W-What do y-you two want? I’m... busy...” he muttered, staring at Gilbert. His gaze travelled over to look to Matthew, “oh... take Matthew to your apartment or whatever. I’m busy,” Gilbert raised an eyebrow,

“Oh yeah? Vith vhat?” Arthur’s face reddened,

“Nothing you need to kn-“

“Mon Cher, what’s taking you so long?” Francis poked out from the other side of the hallway, his horns out and tail swishing, “oh, Mathieu, Gilbert, what ‘as brought you ‘ere?” Arthur turned around immediately and angrily stomped over to Francis, grabbing him by the horns and dragging him back into a different room where they couldn’t be seen,

“Soo... I zink ve know vhat Arthur vas busy doing, now,” Gilbert commented, looking to Matthew,

“I... I mean, Francis just fought off an Angel, he has to regain his energy somehow...” Gilbert gagged,

“Gee zanks for zat,” Matthew chuckled,

“You know what he his, it shouldn’t surprise you. You should know how he gets his nourishment,”

“Oh, don’t say Nourishment, zat sounds weird,”

“I mean, I wouldn’t call it food, cuz it’s not necessarily... physical in all aspects,” Gilbert scoffed,

“What, so Cum isn’t a physi-“

“Can we not?” Matthew cut him off, raising his hand to shut him up, “He raised me and for the longest time I believed him to be my father, so I’d rather not think about that,” Gilbert raised an eyebrow,

“Right, forgot about zat... uh, actually, who vould be your real mother and father?” Matthew’s face blanked,

“Uuhhh... Okay, no, I refuse to think about that. T-That’s... I don’t know, Francis might know, but I think I’d rather not know. They’re dead if they ever existed,” Gilbert nodded,

“Ah, good point, yeah,”

“Hey, you two can come in now. Shower’s ready for you, Matthew,” Arthur poked his head out from the hallway and gestured for them to enter, “close the door behind you,” he added as Gilbert entered with Matthew. Gilbert nodded and closed the door as Matthew wobbled in, occasionally wincing after every few steps, 

“Oh Mathieu, You ‘aven’t ‘ealed yet,” Francis came out from behind the other side of the hallway and immediately got to fusing over Matthew, checking over his wounds, “oh no no no, You must feed, ‘eal yourself,” Matthew backed away from Francis,

“F-Francis, I’m not an Incubus, my food is different from yours,” Francis nodded,

“Right, of course, I sometimes forget not everyone gets zeir sustenance like I do,” he grinned, glancing over to Arthur who blushed and turned away, “but you really must go clean yourself, zough, you’re still quite messy,”

“Yes, I’m well aware,” Matthew walked past Francis and Arthur, making a bee-line for the bathroom where he could shower and clean his wounds. 

It took Matthew nearly two hours in the shower, meaning he came out at around 3am. At that point, Gilbert overheard Francis getting the rest of his... meal. After that, Arthur and Francis has fallen asleep, leaving Gilbert to await for Matthew to step out. When Matthew did eventually step out, almost two hours later, Gilbert ran up to him and gave him a hug, which Matthew returned. They stood like that for a few seconds then Gilbert pulled away, smiling,

“Lookit you, Birdie! Your wounds are already closing up!” Matthew shrugged,

“Not nearly as fast as Francis, but yeah, you’re right,” Gilbert nodded, bending down to inspect a large gash of Matthew’s leg,

“Much faster then any person would heal. Francis healed fast cuz he has Arthur. You’re still healing fast even without any... uh, food,” Matthew shrugged again,

“Can we not talk about my food?” 

“R-Right... sorry, uh, d’you wanna stay the night at my dorm? So I can look after you?” 

“I-I suppose, yeah,” 

“Awesome, come on!” 

* * *

It was around 4am when they arrived at Gilbert’s messy dorm room, 

“Sorry it’s so, uh, messy. Y-You Can take R-Roderich’s old, uh, his old room,” Matthew looked down, averting his eyes, 

“I’m so sorry, Gil, B-But y-“

“C-Can we please not talk about what happened to him?”

“Right, sorry... uh, good night, I guess, see you in the morning,” 

When Gilbert woke up at 10am to his alarm, Matthew was still splayed out on Roderich’s old bed. He was completely conked out, hardly moving. He looked dead, with how still he was as he slept, Gilbert even Found it a bit disturbing. Now that he was paying attention, he noticed that Matthew’s chest wasn’t rising and falling. He wasn’t breathing. For a second Gilbert almost thought to wake him up, then he remembered Matthew probably didn’t need to breathe. Or maybe his breaths were just so shallow that he couldn’t tell. Either way, Gilbert knew Matthew was alive. He tried not to give it too much thought, but he couldn’t help he think something was wrong. He knew Matthew wasn’t human, but the lack of any movement still bothered him. He ignored it and went into the kitchen, pulling out the container of milk and a box of cereal, pouring the cereal into a bowl then the milk. When he was done, he set them on the counter next to the dishwasher and went back to Matthew, who hadn’t moved an inch, as expected,

“Birdie? D-D’you wanna wake up now,” he asked, trying not to be too loud or too quiet. He didn’t want to startle Matthew awake in fear it might make him transform hastily, “Birdie?” He lightly tapped Matthew on the shoulder,

“Huh? W-Wha-?” Matthew turned over, slowly opening his eyes, “Augh, T-Turn off the lights, Gil, I-It’s too bright...” He raised his hand to shield his face from the light filtering in from the kitchen,

“Oh, S-Sorry, I didn’t think about that,” Gilbert turned around and shut the door then squatted next to the bed so he could be on eye level with Matthew who still had his head down on the pillow, “so, are you ready to wake up, or do you wanna go back to sleep? I have a class today, so I’ll be gone for a bit,” Matthew yawned,

“A class?”

“Yeah. You can come, but it’s pretty boring. I was just gonna leave you here while I went to the class, but I wanted to check in on you,” Matthew shook his head, 

“No, I... I have bad memories of School... I know school has changed since I went, It still baffles me how different it is, but Still... “

“Okay, well, see you in a bit then!” He leaned down and planted a kiss on Matthew’s forehead and left, giving him a smile and a wave as he turned off the lights. 

* * *

When Gilbert came back to the dorm room, he noticed that the door to Roderich’s old room was nearly ripped off the hinges and Matthew was curled up on the couch, in front of the TV that was turned off. He placed his bag at the door and came up behind the couch, leaning over it to see Matthew asleep, still not appearing to have been breathing,

“Birdie, I’m back,” Matthew stirred but didn’t wake up, “Birdie, I’m back,” he repeated slightly louder. Matthew stirred once again, groaning as he tried to flip over,

“G-Gil? How long has it been?” He muttered, rubbing his eyes, “Augh, no, scratch that, I’m starving and I need to stretch,” he rasped, his eyes starting to shift into Purple as he looked to Gilbert, “I need to eat, Gil, I’m so hungry,” he stretched and sat up, Placing his head in his hands, “Oh, No, It’s-It’s nearly unbearable, I can’t Imagine what it’ll be like when I change...” Gilbert’s brows furrowed as he took a seat next, “I do t want to change back because of the hunger, but I can already feel myself changing despite what I want,” Gilbert nodded,

“Your Eyes have turned purple so it’s getting there I think, and, uh...Smile? Let me see your teeth,” Matthew did so after a brief hesitation, revealing sharp, yellowed teeth, “ooh, yeah, your teeth are starting to go back to normal... what about-?” He sat up higher to inspect Matthew’s head, lightly running his hands through Matthew’s hair, where his hand was met with a bump, “ooooh, and Antlers... right, let’s uh, get you back to the forest,” Matthew groaned,

“Aw fuck, yeah, we need to leave, ɳσɯ,” his voice distorted on the final word in urgency as he quickly got up from where he was sitting down,

“R-Right... try not to do anything while walking through the town,” Matthew nodded,

“When I enter the forest, please, for the love of god, do not follow me. My hunger is almost unbearable right now in my human body and it’ll be even more amplified once I transform. I won’t be able to control myself, And you yelling is unlikely to snap me out of a trance if I attack,” Gilbert huffed and rolled his eyes, “Gιʅ, I ԃσɳ’ƚ ɯαɳƚ ƚσ ƙιʅʅ ყσυ, ʂσ ρʅҽαʂҽ, ԃσɳ’ƚ ϝσʅʅσɯ ɱҽ,” His voice kept on in it’s Distorted state, not fitting with the current human form he was in,

“I... Fine, but we’re stopping by Arthur’s so we can get you fed as soon as possible, okay?” Matthew nodded, as he opened the door, motioning for Gilbert to step out hurriedly,

“Wҽ ɳҽҽԃ ƚσ ʅҽαʋҽ, Gιʅ,”

“Right, let’s get going,” and so they walked down to the edge of the forest. Matthew had trouble walking past people on the street without having to grip Gilbert’s hand to stop himself from doing anything. Every time Matthew squeezed his hand, it hurt Gilbert more and more for each time it happened, and he would wince whenever it happened, but he put up with it. By the time they had arrived at Arthur’s,Matthew’s antlers had grown out to be just a little more than bumps on his head and His arms were growing longer with each second. Gilbert breathed In as he raised his hand to knock on the door. Arthur took a few seconds to come to the door, but when he did, he was in a considerably better condition than last time,

“Yes Gilbert? Matt- I see... you probably want food, yeah?” Matthewnodded his head violently,

“P-Pʅҽαʂҽ, Aɾ ƚ ԋ υɾ, I’ɱ ʂ ƚ αɾʋιɳɠ,” Arthur’s Eyes widened,

“Oh dear, give me a minute, I need to prepare the spell. Gilbert, you need to leave, He can hardly control himself like this, he’ll be completely out of control when he transforms, so please, go,”

“Fine, but you text me when he’s done, okay?” 

“Gilbert, Go,”

“Right, sorry, I’m going!”

* * *

Nearly an hour later, and Gilbert had finally received a text from Arthur, informing him of Matthew’s condition. He read it slowly, glossing over the bits he didn’t understand about magic. Matthew was safe. Matthew was feed. Arthur was Weak, but alive. Everyone was safe and everyone was fine.


	9. 5+1 Things(Nedcan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what the chapter title say!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very very very brief use of Homophobic language! The F slur is used by a random passerby but that’s it

The first time it happens, It’s 1916. He’s taking a break from the war, trying to forget everything going on. It wasn’t even his idea actually. He was approached by Belgium, otherwise known to him as Bella, one late night and asked if he wanted to go out. He didn’t like her in a romantic way, but he had trouble rejecting people, so he accepted. That was what lead to the first time he was mistaken for someone’s boyfriend. He and Bella were sitting outside on a restaurants patio, chatting about each other’s siblings,

“Abel also once did thi-“

“Yo, Guy, nice girlfriend, you’re a lucky dude! She’s a beaut!” Canada’s face reddened as the guy that yelled continued walking, snickering to his friend,

“M-Matthew?” Canada sighed and looked up to Bella,

“Yeah?”

“Ignore what that man said. We’re just friends, right?” Canada nodded,

“Right. Sorry, It just took me off guard,” Bella smiled reassuringly, 

“Of course! Now, as I was saying about Abel-“

* * *

The second time, it’s in 1920. Canada is trying to mend his relationship with Hungary by visiting her and trying to have a simple chat, to try and get to know each other better. They’re having a walk through the city of Budapest, having idle chatter at sunset when a drunken man approached Hungary, yelling in Hungarian that Canada didn’t understand,

_“Gyerünk hölgy, jobban tudsz csinálni, mint ő!jöjjön hozzám, asszonyom!”_ Canada watched as Hungary grew red, her eyebrows furrowing in anger,

_“Nyasgem!”_ She shouted, punching the man square in the face, “Nem randizunk, és soha nem leszünk!” The man giggled drunkenly as he rubbed his face in pain, 

_“Az ördög vigyen el!”_ The man yelled back as he turned tail and ran away,

“W-What did he say?” Hungary turned back to Canada, slightly confused and huffed,

“He thought I was your stupid boyfriend and said I could do better! He said I should date him, the damn Drunkard!” Canada’s eyes widened at the rephrased translation,

“O-Oh...”

“Yeah, you better have it in that skull of yours that we’re never happening!” Canada nodded,

“Of course, I don’t feel that way about you, I never would’ve thought of it” he defended,

“Good,”

* * *

The third time, it’s 1942. Mexico, Maria to him, just entered the war and he was chatting with her. Maria was a strong woman, and he had massive respect for her, but he didn’t think of her in a romantic way. That’s why he was so caught off guard when one soldier walked into the room, a large smile on his face,

“Heeeyy, General Williams, who’s that good lookin’ lady ya got there? Your new girlfriend?” Maria instantly got to shouting in rapid fire Spanish that Canada couldn’t even begin to comprehend. The solider who had walked in, most likely a new American soldier based on the accent, began to shrink and leave the room as Maria continued to yell at him. When Maria came back, she let out a sigh, and placed her hand on Canada’s shoulder with a slight laugh, 

“Please never try and date me. I don’t have anything against you, Mateo, don’t get me wrong, you are a great guy, but I don’t like you like that,” Matthew nodded with a smile,

“I-Of course, I feel the same way... I mean, as in, I don’t want to date you. You’re an amazing lady though, but I don’t want to date you,”

* * *

The fourth time it happens, it’s extremely unexpected. He and France are taking a walk through the small town of Kananaskis, Alberta just before the G8 Summit is supposed to begin. Francis is babbling on about... something. Canada’s not paying much attention to what Francis is saying because he had noticed a small group of men with what Canada assumed to be their girlfriends, whispering and glancing towards him and Francis,

“ _Mathieu?_ Are you alright? You look uninterested,” Canada nodded his head, 

“Y-Yeah, but I think we’re being talked about over there,” he jerked his head in the direction of the small group of two men and two women, 

“I see, just ignore the-“

“Hey, Faggots, go be gay somewhere else!” One of the men yelled as the others laughed, Resulting in Francis gaining a disgusting expression,

“Ooh, you think we are dating! _Non non non!_ We are brothers! We would never!” At that statement the group of people paled, and one of the women backed up, grabbing the arm of who Canada could only guess was her boyfriend,

“Y-You’re brothers?” The man stared at Francis with newfound disgust,

“ _Oui,_ but that’s not the only thing wrong with what you said!” The man tilted his head, confused, “you do not use that-that word, understand? _l'amour c'est l'amour,_ ” the man scoffed and turned back to the other woman, 

“Love Is love?” He man translated aloud for himself then scoffed, “Whatever you say, Freak,” he dismissed Francis with a wave and walked away, going back to talking with the woman,

“Come on, _Mathieu,_ let’s forget this happened. The meeting is in about an hour, so let’s get going,”Canada nodded, 

“R-Right...”

* * *

The Fifth time he’s mistaken for someone’s boyfriend is in 2004, and it’s actually understandable. He was with Cuba, known to him as Carlos, on a night out at a bar. Carlos has been wanting to visit Canada for a while and he’d finally found some time to visit him. It was the last night of Carlos’s stay so they were out at a bar, drinking as a hockey game played above the bartender. Carlos kept leaning on him and just overall getting a bit too close for Canada’s comfort, but being the man he was, Canada had trouble trying to push him off. Sure, he was stronger then he looked, but he also didn’t want Carlos to think he didn’t like him so he let him do what he wanted. As long as he didn’t do anything that made Canada uncomfortable, he fed up with up and even joked around as Carlos laughed,

“Ey, Mattie, Explain Hockey to me again,” Matthew sighed and lightly pushed Carlos off from leaning on him more,

“Gods, how many times must I explain?” Carlos let out a brief laugh,

“Oh come on, you loooove talking about it,” Canada shrugged,

“You got me there, it is something I like to talk about,” he began, “so, there’s the goalie, you should know what a Goalie does, then ther-“

“Heey, are you two dating, cuz you totally look great together,” a drunken lady interrupted their conversation, 

“I-I... No, We-We’re just close friends!” Carlos blushed, looking between him and Canada, “M-Me and Carlos are j-just close friends!” Canada tried explaining as Carlos continued to sputter, burrowing his head in his hands, covering his reddening face, 

“Oooh, well, you should, like, totally start dating, you two could be great together,” Carlos raised his head and violently shook it,

“No no no no, we’re not going to date, lady! We’re just friends, and that’s it!” The lady scoffed and turned around, muttering something that Canada didn’t quite catch,

“Okay, continue, what’s after Goalies?”

“Right, so-“

* * *

The first time someone is actually correct, is in 2007, he’s on a date with Abel, known to many others as Netherlands, while visiting him. They had just left the restaurant they were eating at, when Abel stopped to look to Canada,

“So, how’d you like the food, _mijn kleine snoepje?_ ” Abel spoke up, grabbing hold of Canada’s hand, 

“It was an amazing treat, _Mon Cher,_ I always love the Dutch food you and your people make,” Canada replied, planting a chaste kiss to Abel’s lips, who grinned as they began walking back to Abel’s house. As they walked back, Abel pointed out various shops that they could visit, keeping his hold on Canada. As they were passing one particular shop, a tourist shop of Canada’s Dutch was correct, a young man standing outside said shop approached them with a smile,

_“Hallo heren, Ik wil jullie feliciteren omdat jullie een openlijk homoseksuele relatie hebben, dus hier, neem deze pinnen!”_ The man held out a small cardboard box with rainbow flag pins in them. Abel looked to the man then the box for a second in hesitation before taking two pins and handing one to Canada,

“Here,” Canada looked to the pin,

“What’d the guy say?” He asked, pocketing the pin,

“Congratulating us on being openly gay,” 

“Ah. Well, yay for us?” Abel chuckled,

“Yay for us,” Abel pressed a kiss to Canada’s forehead with a smile, “Yay for us,”

* * *

**Translations:**

_**Hungarian** Gyerünk hölgy, jobban tudsz csinálni, mint ő!jöjjön hozzám, asszonyom/ Come on lady, you can do better than him! come date me, Mistress!_

_**Hungarian** Nyasgem/ Hungarian sweat which means “Fuck off”. Is a shortened version of **“Nylad** **ki a seggem”** which has the literal Translation of “Lick my Ass out”_

**_Hungarian_ ** _Az ördög vigyen el/ Hungarian Insult that means “Fuck you”. Literal translation is “May the devil take you”_

_**Dutch** _ _Mijn_ _kleine snoepje/ My Little Candy_

**_French_ ** _Mon Cher/ My dear/darling_

_**Dutch** Hallo heren, Ik wil jullie feliciteren omdat jullie een openlijk homoseksuele relatie hebben, dus hier, neem deze pinnen/ Hello gentlemen, I would like to congratulate you for having an openly gay relationship, so here, take these pins_


	10. Let’s learn French!(Gen)

Australia was excited to say the least. Prince Alfred was coming to Visit him, Australia! For the first time he was going to be able to properly meet the Royal family. He prepared the mansion he would be staying in, with the help of other government officials, trying his best to contain his excitement. He had also heard that one of his older brother's were visiting with Prince Alfred, which only made him even more excited. He'd finally be able to meet one of his brothers he'd heard about! He didn't know which one he'd be meeting with Prince Alfred, which led him on doing his own research about them. There was India... no, he'd recently gotten his independence from England just about a decade ago. America? No, He's been independence for some time now. New Zealand, perhaps? No, he'd met him before and he was told it was someone he hadn't met before. Maybe it was one of England's brothers, like Scotland or Wales? That'd make sense, so maybe it was one of them. They'd technically be his brothers since they're England's brothers, so that's what he put his money on. Someone like Scotland or Wales.

When Prince Alfred did arrive, he was given a warm welcome from everyone awaiting him. He didn't notice any 'Normal' looking person who could be a nation, so he was confused. No one walked out with the Prince that he saw, and none of the advisors that followed him didn't give him the sense of a nation. He continued glancing around, trying to spot a nation, but none popped up. By the end of the day, he had given up looking for his brother. He didn't know who it even was so he couldn't ask around, so he was hopeless in finding the man who was his brother. Since the day was almost done, he had said goodbye to the Prince after speaking With him and went back home. His brother was supposed to be staying at his house with him, but since he was no where to be seen, he went back without him,

"A-Australia?" He jumped up at the sudden voice from behind him as he was unlocking his door,

"Who?!" He quickly turned around to see no one. He rapidly looked around, trying to find the source of the voice,

"I'm right here, Australia..."

"Where in the hell are ya?" He asked, trying to find the person. He heard a quiet sigh, and then someone gently grabbed his wrist turning him around to be face to face with a tall, blond man,

"Australia, I've been trying to gain your attention all day. I'm your brother that was supposed to meet you," He paused to look at the man. Purple eyes, large, round glasses and wavy blond hair, "I'm Canada. The Dominion of Canada if you want to be proper, but if what England's told me, you're anything but," Australia gave a confirming nod at that statement, "I only recently became my own country, but England still rules over me which is why I'm here," he Introduced himself,

"Oh... I've... never heard 'bout ya country..." Canada nodded his head,

"Yeah, that's not surprising, but that's besides the point. I'm your older brother who's come here, so can you please let me come in? I heard my stuff was already moved to your house here so I just want to come in. I'm... really tired," Canada yawned, pointing to the door,

"Right, sorry I didn't notice ya earlier. come on in, ya stuff made it's way here," Australia opened the door for Canada who smiled to him as he walked in, saying a quiet... something. It was in a different language, French if Australia remembered correctly. Wait, why was his brother speaking French? French was France's language and he knew England hated France,

"So, where's my room?" Canada interrupted his thoughts

"Right! Ya room! This way, it's just upstairs," Australia took Canada's hand, dragging him upstairs to the quest bedroom, "right here!" He let good Canada's hand to present the doorway to the room,

"I guess I'll get to unpacking, eh?" Australia nodded,

"I'll be in my room right next to yours if ya need anythin'!" He pointed to across the hallway where his own bedroom was, to which Canada nodded with a smile,

"Alright, _Merci,_ " Australia was almost leaving when Matthew spoke up,

"Actually, d'you mind me askin' about what you're speaking? Is that French?" Canada nodded,

_"Oui, C'est Français,"_

"C-Can you teach me something in French?" Canada's eyes widened in surprise,

"A-Are you sure? England won't be too happy if he found out I taught you French. He'll be angry at both of us,"

"But you al-"

"I was France's colony before I was England's. England can't do anything about me speaking French and he hates it when I speak it around him... I can't speak it around him without him ridiculing me,"

"Okay, I just won't speak it around him then," Canada sighed,

"Fine... I'll teach you one phrase, eh?" Australia nodded enthusiastically,

"yeah yeah! Hit me!" Canada took in a breath and let it out with a long sigh,

"I'm going to teach you ask someone _**'How are you?'**_ okay?" Australia nodded, " _Comme ça-va._ Repeat that. _Comme ça-va,_ "

_"Camah Safa?"_ Canada giggled at his supposed mispronunciation. He didn't think he made a mistake in his pronouncing. It sounded like what Canada has said,

" _Non non non,_ try again. _Comme ça-va,_ "

_"Comma Sava?"_ Canada replied with a quiet hum as he tilted his head from side to side,

"Almost. _Comme. Ça. Va. Comme Ça-va,_ "

_"Comme Ça-va?"_ Canada smiled and clapped,

" _Oui! C'est correct!_ Now, there are three _basic_ replies," Canada emphasized the word _Basic_ in his reply, "so, you can say _Ça-va Bien, Ça-va Mal_ or _Comme-ce Comme-ça,_ "

"Right, so-"

" _Ça-va Bien_ means _ **I am good,**_ " Australia nodded, repeating the response in his head to get the pronunciation correct, " _Ça-va Mal_ means _**I am bad,**_ " Australia once again nodded, taking in the pronunciation. _Ça-va Mal_ was an easier pronunciation so it didn't take him a while to process it, "and finally, _Comme-ce Comme-ça,_ which means _**So-So,**_ "

"Right... okay, I think I got it," Canada smiled,

"So, let's try it out, then, eh?" Australia gave a nod,

_"Comme ça-va?"_

_"Ça-va bien!"_ He replied happily,

_"Oui! Trés bien!"_ Canada grinned, clapping his hands in encouragement, "now you know how to ask how someone is doing and how to reply!"

"Yep! S-"

"Alright, well, I'm going to go to bed now. I'm really tired, so, Good night... Or, should I say-" Canada paused to look back to Australia as he was closing his door, _"Bonne nuit,"_ He closed the door on Australia with quiet laugh. He assumed that Bonne nuit meant something like good night, and went to his bedroom, falling asleep within just a few minutes due to the busy day he had.

When the Prince was leaving to go on to visit New Zealand, with him Canada also left. They hadn't really talked much after the first day, but Australia was still sad to say goodbye to him.

* * *

**Translations:**

_**French** Merci/ Thank you_

_**French** Oui, C’est Français / Yes, It’s French_

_**French** Comme ça-va/ How are you_

_**French** Ça va bien/ I am good_

_**French** Ça va mal/ I am bad_

_**French** Comme-ce Comme-ça/ So-so_

_**French** Oui/ Yes_

_**French** Trés bien/ Very good_

_**French** Bonne nuit/ Good night_


	11. Second World(Gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur’s owned a mirror for quite some time now that supposedly brings forth beings from an alternate world. Thing is, he’s never actually gotten it to work...  
> On purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it’s been quite some time, huh?  
> I lost interest in Hetalia however the interest has been reignited!  
> Unfortunately, I have no ideas, this was something I started writing before I lost interest that I just recently finished, so don’t expect much else soon.  
> Requests are always open, though!

Arthur was doing some spring cleaning in his basement when he came across it. The Second Mirror. He stared into it, Watching his reflection closely. The man he’d bought it off of back in the 1500’s had told him that the mirror could be used to summon those from an alternate universe, and being a magic user, Arthur had bought it. He felt like a fool, there was clearly nothing the mirror could do to bring forth alternate Universe beings. Sure, magic existed, and Yes, aliens were things, but alternate dimensions? No, there was no way. He bent down to pick up his duster to clean the Second Mirror, but when he stared back, his reflection had changed. It resembled him in some ways, yet it wasn’t him. The man in the Mirror had Vaguely Pink hair as opposed to Arthur’s more blond hair. The man wore a pink vest while England had on a Green one. The Large Bushy eyebrows were present, but the eyes themselves were Blue when Arthur knew for a fact his eyes were Green. Arthur raised a Hand, and the reflection did the same. He raised his other hand and clasped his two hands together. The reflection also did the same. Arthur closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to convince himself he was simply seeing things, however when he opened his eyes, he had no reflection. Now he was panicking,

“Oi, What the fuck?” He muttered under his breath, Glaring at the Mirror,

“I wouldn’t use such harsh words, but yes, I must agree,” Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin. He quickly turned around to find the reflection standing behind,

“Who are you?! What the fuck is going on?!” He yelled, glancing back to the mirror to double check that he wasn’t going crazy,

“I could ask the same thing, but I think it’d be best if we worked together, yeah?” Arthur sputtered,

“I-I-I Don’t understand! W-who are you?! A-are you from an alternate dimension?” The reflection shrugged,

“No, that would be you. I am the original, you’re the alternate,”

“Does that mean you’re also Arthur Kirkland?” Arthur glared at the other,

“What? No, of course not, My name is Oliver Kirkland!” The now dubbed ‘Oliver’ laughed, “but If you really are an alternate me, then I suppose that would also make you England?” Arthur slowly nodded,

“Oh, this is just amazing! Stay right here, other me, I will be back soon!” Oliver giggled as he ran back into the mirror and Arthur’s reflection turned back to normal.

Arthur was quick to call the others over to his place, not wanting to be alone when Oliver returned. He called Alfred over then decided to notify Francis. He didn’t want to panic everyone, so the last person he contacted was someone labeled ‘Canadia’ on his cell phone. He couldn’t remember who it was at first, but it came back to him soon enough so he gave him a call. Within a few minutes, Francis, Alfred and Matthew had country hopped to his front door and let themselves in,

“Hello Francis, Hello Alfred, Matthew,” he greeted the others as the strolled into his kitchen, “I would’ve preferred if you all had at least knocked, but that doesn’t matter right now, we have a worse situation on our hands.” He got up from his seat in the kitchen and set down the tea he had been drinking, “come, I’m sure he’s returned by now,” 

Arthur lead the others down to the basement where the mirror was as he opened the door he noticed that the mirror had moved. He turned to Alfred, who was trying to butt his way into the room, “Alfred! Stop pushing!” He pushed the younger nation away and which earned a groan from the other,

“Aw come on, Iggy, Lemme see this alternate you!” Arthur sighed, and opened the door all the way, putting his arm in the way preventing Alfred from entering, 

“Slow down, Alfred, no need to be hasty, lad,” he spoke, looking the younger man in the eyes with a slight scorn. Alfred scoffed, “He might have malicious intentions!” Alfred rolled his eyes, 

“Iggy, you’re the one who called us here!” Francis nodded in agreement,

“He has got you there, Ma chére Angleterre,” Francis Replied, flicking some hair out of his face. Arthur turned back to the door and opened it for Alfred who instantly ran in to inspect the Mirror. His reflection too resembled him in a strange way, however much like Oliver was to Arthur, it was different. He had darker skin, dark brown hair, and reddish-brown eyes, and a few piercings littered his face. His outfit was relatively the same from Alfred’s own, the only difference being that it was more darker than Alfred’s own,

“Yoooooo, My reflection is different! Is this wh-“

“Oh my god, will you please shut the fuck up,” Alfred instantly jumped back, unable to form words as he watched the reflection step through, “God, are you really my other self?” Alfred nodded, still failing to find words, “You’re so... so soft looking,” Alfred blinked, suddenly gaining his composure,

“I am not Soft, other me! I am the hero, and I always will be!” The other Alfred scoffed, 

“Fine, whatever, so what’s your name then, other me,” Alfred gulped as the other him got closer, inspecting him. Arthur, Francis and Matthew simply watched the scene unfold from the side, 

“A-Alfred,” The darker skinned-man nodded, satisfied with the answer,

“Alfred, huh? Name’s Allen,” He stepped aside and looked at Arthur and Francis, “And you’re Oliver’s and François’s counterparts? Pfft, are all of you countrerparts so weak looking?!” He laughed and turned around to lean against the wall, “so where’s James’ other person or whatever? Surely he’s here, right?” Matthew perked up,

“Y-you mean me? Canada?” Allen snapped his head to face Matthew,

“Where did you come from?” Matthew gulped, intimidated by Allen’s appearance,

“I-I’ve been h-here the whole t-time,” Allen suddenly burst out into laughter, 

“YOU?! You’re James’ counterpart?! I Don’t believe it!” Matthew nodded nervously, 

“I s-suppose so?” Allen kicked off the wall and walked to Matthew, grabbing him by the shoulder,

“Alright, well, go on, James is Waitin’ to come through!” He slapped him on the back and pushed him to stay in front of the mirror, where no reflection stood. A brief moment passed and his reflection slowly came into view. It too looked similar to him, yet not exactly him like it should’ve been. The man, presumably his counterpart named James, had a small beard growing on his chin similar to the one Francis had, and his hair was longer, being held back in a ponytail. Instead of wearing a large, red sweater that Matthew currently had on, he was wearing a typical, Red flannel and wore black sunglasses over his eyes. Matthew took a step back and The man came into view and stepped out of the mirror, Eyeing down Matthew. Matthew back up further as James stared him down,

“Are you supposed to be me?” He mumbled, a slight Québécois accent leaking into his speech. Matthew nodded, 

“I-If you’re Canada, then y-yes, I guess I am you,” James grunted a response and turned to look to Alfred, “and is that supposed to be Allen’s counterpart?” Matthew nodded,

“Y-yes, his name is Alfred,” James scoffed and turned to Arthur and Francis, getting closer to them to inspect them. He lifted his sunglasses to stare at Francis especially, narrowing his eyes at the French man. Francis began to feel nervous under his gaze and glanced to Matthew, who was cautiously watching James to make sure nothing bad happened. They’d done nothing to possibly warrant being so cautious, but everyone in the room excluding Allen and James could feel a strange hostile aura emanating from the two newcomers. James made a quiet hum and walked closer to Francis,

“You are dee François of dis ‘orld, non?” James’ Québécois accent grew heavier when he spoke to Francis, who just shrugged as he replied,

“Oui, zat is moi, ze beautiful country of France!” James stepped back and gave Francis a strange look,

“Ew, you’re...cheery... you’re nothing like François,” James paused and groaned, “ugh, I Don’t know which I hate more,” Francis coughed, 

“Mon dieu, and you are not’ing like my dear Matthieu,“ James rolled his eyes,

“I am from an opposite universe, what did you expect, France?” He spat out Francis’ true name like it was curse and turned to look back at the mirror, then to Francis again, “go on, François needs to come through even if he doesn’t want to,” he motioned to the mirror. Francis slowly stepped away from standing next to Arthur and stood in front of the mirror. A few seconds passed when the reflection finally started to slowly change. The man in the mirror, presumably François, was nearly a spitting image of Francis, with the exception of his more purple shirt and the heavy bags under his eyes. He begrudgingly stepped through the mirror and looked around the room in silence as everyone watched. Arthur, who had since stepped behind Francis to watch, noticed that Oliver had returned to take his place as his reflection and was now stepping through,

“Well, here we are, dearies! The mirror world!” Alfred scoffed, 

“What, no, dude, you guys’re from the Mirror world!” Oliver rolled his eyes at Alfred’s rejection,

“Agree to disagree, then,” Arthur shrugged,

“Fine, but I still think we are the originals,” at that, everyone fell silent. Neither groups really had much of a plan, it seemed...

They stood there in silence for a good few seconds before Oliver clapped his hands together,

“I must assume you have a kitchen, I’ll bake us cupcakes! You behave yourselves, boys!” Oliver smiled and left the room with what the others could only assume was his usual attitude, “That means you too, François!” At the mention of his name, François looked up and simply stared, followed by a slight nod. Oliver smiled back and shut the door, leaving the others alone,

“Wait, no, hold on, I’m going with you! I still don’t trust you counterparts!” Arthur quickly left the room to chase after Oliver, leaving the others behind.

Alfred cleared his throat and turned to face the remaining counterparts who were standing together. Though quite a bit apart, the three of them were still on their side of the room,

“So, uh, what’s it like in your world?” Allen raised his eyebrows,

“The fuck you interested in?” Think you can replace me?” Alfred’s face turned to one of confusion as he looked to Allen then to James and François. He quickly shifted his gaze to look to Francis who shrugged in response, 

“Of course not, Dude, I’m just... Curious, y’know?”

“And where does this curiosity stem from?” Allen continued, taking a few steps forward to gaze harshly at Alfred,

“What d’you mean where? Can’t I just be curious? You- You’re an alternate me from an alternate world, dude! Don’t you think that’s cool?!” James let out a quiet snort,

“Don’t know if you noticed yet, Mr. Softy, but we clearly are not the same. Allen has no interest in “Cool” things,” Allen turned to James and went to jab him in the gut, only for James to back up just before he was hit, sighing and shaking his head,

“I can speak for myself, you dickhead!” James rolled his eyes,

“Oliver said not misbehave, Al,” Allen scoffed,

“And since when did either of us follow his orders?” James tilted his head and raised his eyebrows,

“You got a point there, I won’t deny that, but look, let’s actually listen to him for this once, if he finds out we misbehaved while in this second world... well, we’ll get it even worse than usual,” Allen turned to look at Francis and Alfred and lessened his aggressive stance he didn’t even realize he’d taken,

“Fine, whatever, you win,”

“I usually do,” James commented, instantly provoking Allen again, but before he could lay a finger on James, Alfred stepped in,

“Dude, stop, not only are you misbehaving, but like, do you not realize what you’re doing?! James is your brother, dude!” Allen let out a singular laugh and pointed to James as he smiled smugly,

“Him? My brother? We hardly speak at all, and half the time we’re together we’re at each others necks. Don’t think we’re brothers, Dude,” 

“Wha- no, you guys- You’re America and Canada! That makes you brothers!” Allen and James looked at each other weirdly then turned to Alfred,

“Canada and America obviously have a very different relationship in this world, then, if you two consider yourselves brothers,” There was a brief pause then James spoke up,

“Speaking of brothers, where’d my counterpart go? I don’t see him anymore,” James looked around the room, lifting his sunglasses up to rest on the top of his head,

“Oh wait, yeah, you’re right, he’s gone!” Alfred added, looking around the room, “Francis, have you seen him?”

“Non, I think he might’ve went with Arthur,” Alfred let out a frustrated sigh,

“So uh... you gonna tell me about your world?”

“Fuck off,” was Allen’s simple response before turning to François,

“Are you not helping us look for Matthew?” François shook his head,

“Why? You’ll be able to find him eventually, right?” His heavily accented voice answered back,

“We’ll find him faster if you actually help us, Asshole!” François sighed and shrugged, raising his head to take in his surroundings,

“Fine I-... He’s right there,” François pointed to a corner on the room where, to everyone’s surprise, Matthew was sitting in, his eyes closed, “How did none of you see him?” Everyone else looked to each other then to François and finally to Matthew, “He’s your counterpart, for Fucks sake, James,”

“Don’t scold me, you old dickhead,” François let out an exasperated sigh and held his hands up in surrender,

“Yeah yeah, just don’t sic your polar bear on me,” 

“Pola-“

“You have a Polar bear as well?” Matthew lifted his head to look up at James, who stared back at him,

“Uh, no, I have a Spirit Bear. Everyone thinks he’s a Polar Bear, though,” Matthew’s eyes lit up,

“Oooohh, a Spirit Bear! I haven’t seen one in some time! I don’t visit BC too often, and since Kumajug is a polar bear, well... I guess I just don’t see them often!” James gave him a weird look,

“You don’t visit BC? Is Vancouver not your capital? That’s where you should be living,” Matthew shook his head,

“Vancouver? No, of course not, my capital is Ottawa,”

“Then Vancouver is the capital of BC?”

“No, it’s Victoria,” Allen cleared his throat, and looked at the two different Canadas,

“Quit talkin’ about yourselves,” he turned to Alfred, “There’s the difference between our worlds that you wanted so much, happy?” Alfred made a so-so motion with his hand,

“I guess, but like, if their capitals are different then imagine what else is different! Th-“ Alfred was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, causing all the others to also turn their heads to see Arthur and Oliver standing in the doorway,

“Cupcakes are in the oven!” Oliver smiled, running back to see James, Allen and François, “did you boys behave?” He questioned, eyeing Allen, who stared back at him,

“They were good enough,” Francis butted in, “Almost got in a fight, but Alfred broke them up,” he pointed to Allen and James and looked to Alfred. Oliver glared at Allen then turned his attention towards Alfred,

“You really are nothing like our dear Allen! He’s always himself into fights!” Oliver shot a quick glance towards Allen then looked back to Alfred, “I bet the world here is a lot more nicer, huh?” Everyone looked at each other and then glanced to the others from their world,

“Well, from what Oliver was telling me, it would seem our world really is less cruel than yours, but... I wouldn’t say it’s nice,” Arthur spoke up, 

“So, how many Great Wars were here?” François spoke up in a rare moment of him speaking without being asked,

“I-I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard me. How many great wars have happened here?” François repeated with a slight edge to his voice, 

“Uh... Two?” Arthur answered, resulting in The other’s’ eyes widening,

“T-Two?! What years?” Allen cut immediately to the chase with his question,

“Can we please not talk about the world wars?” Arthur mumbled, placing a head in his hands, “Don’t know how it happened with your world, but the world wars aren’t exactly a cheery subject,” Everyone remained quiet for a second before Oliver spoke up,

“So then what happened that made it such a sensitive subject?”

“What do you mean “what happened ?” Wars happened! Millions of people died!” 

“Lay it off Oliver, they don’t want to talk, move on,” François spoke up before Oliver could reply to Arthur, “can we move to somewhere else, this room is kind of dusty,” François added, looking to Arthur, “I’d like to get somewhere I can smoke, not being in our world is starting to stress me out,” He finished, looking to up the stairs. 

“Right, uh, I suppose, right this way,” Arthur nodded and motioned for everyone to follow him. He brought them up to the living room and pointed to a nearby door that led out to a back porch, “If you’re going to smoke, do it outside,” he directed to François who simply nodded and made his way outside to stand on the porch,

“So, when do you... counterparts plan on leaving?” 

“We’re not leaving until we decide we’re gonna leave, other England,” Allen remarked, 

“Oh, no need to be so rude, Allen! We’re quests in this world!” Allen scoffed and crossed his arms,

“Whatever, I’m starting to feel weird, when are we going back?” 

“The cupcakes aren’t ready yet, Dear! Once they’re finished baking we can take them home and then eat them!” Oliver replied with a smile,

“Yeah, okay, whatever, I’m not eating them anyway,”

“I must assume that means your England also makes Terri bow food, and I must say, that does not surprise me,” Francis chuckled,

“You git, you just don’t know good food!” Arthur smacked Francis upside the head in anger, much to the other counterparts’ surprise,

“So, how much time on the cupcakes? I’d like to get back home,” James spoke up, looking out the window to François, “French Bastard probably wants to get back, too, and we know Allen does too. It’s three against one, old man,” Oliver looked like he wanted to say something, but held his tongue and stayed quiet, 

“I’m still curious about what you guys’s world is like!” Alfred pipped up, earning him a sigh from Allen,

“And what if we wanted to learn about yours?”

“Well I’ll tell ya! What’d you wanna know?” Alfred answered. Allen blinked and then turned his head,

“What’s your capital?” He muttered, not bothering to look at Alfred as he asked his question,

“Washington, DC, of course!” Allen quickly turned around at that and looked at Alfred weirdly,

“Really?”

“Of course, Dude! What’s yours?”

“New York City,” He answered quickly, not wanting the conversation to drag on. Alfred was about to speak up when a sudden singing interrupted him and his thoughts,

“Ooh, the cupcakes are done!” Oliver cheered,

“That they are,” Arthur replied cautiously, standing up at the same time as Oliver to help take out the baked goods, “you four will be leaving now?” Oliver nodded as he found a container to put the cupcakes in, being careful not to burn himself,

“James, grab François from outside, we’re going back through now!” James simply gave a grunt in response as he stood up and went outside.

Soon enough, everyone was grouped around the second mirror and saying their goodbyes,

“Bye other me!!” Alfred cried as Allen stepped through with a scowl on his face,

“I really do hate you, Alfred,” Was Allen’s last words to Alfred, leaving Alfred in a stunned silence,

“I’ll be going through now, I have to keept my eye on Allen, goodbye everyone!” Oliver waved as he too stepped through,

“I’m gone, too,” was James’s simple goodbye he gave as he stepped through after Oliver, leaving François alone with the others,

“I suppose I’m last, then. Au revoir,” François spoke in a somewhat flat voice just before he walked through the mirror in silence. 


End file.
